Kingdom Hearts: Light of Happiness
by Chris Talonflight
Summary: A group of four friends are playing Kingdom Hearts. Little do they know what the game has in store for them.
1. Chapter 1

**Chris: Hey there! Since I really hate doing this since its kind of a waste of time-**

**Rodney (interrupting): Come on! I just died again!**

**C: Stop interrupting and keep leveling up Sora!**

**Chris:… ok… their still playing Kingdom Hearts… anyway, since this is a waste of time doing the disclaimer thing-**

**Ashley (interrupting again): It's not a waste of time! If you don't do it, Square Enix will sue you for your life and your powers!**

**Chris: THANK YOU FOR SPOILING MY STORY! *chases after Ashley***

***ten minutes later***

**Chris: Well, I really hate doing this disclaimer thing, so I want someone else to do it. Hey Cloud!**

**Cloud: … what…**

**Chris: do the disclaimer thing and I'll give you… a… a photo of Tifa!**

**Cloud: … … … Not Interested.**

**Chris:… … … Anyone?**

***Random SHADOW HEARTLESS* : *squeal squeak nudge nudge poke***

**Chris: thank you. He said: "Chris Talonflight (aka ME) does not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy and is not affiliated with any of the bands that are used as soundtracks for this fic. This is not intended to advertize, and the songs are merely intended as ambience. So please don't sue." Please enjoy the FanFic, Kingdom Hearts, Light of Happiness! (Note: if anyone is interested in seeing the cover for this that I designed, PM me)**

Chapter One: _Chris Vasquez: _Endgame.

The boy raced through the corridors, killing any and all resistance. He turned a corner.

"Well Sora, I didn't expect to see you here."

The boy bristled. "Riku, give me back Kairi!"

"Huh." The older boy, Riku said slowly. "Face it. You're nothing but the messenger boy." Riku disappeared in a portal of darkness. A large group of Heartless appeared around Sora. Sora summoned his weapon. Heartless flew apart beneath his keen blade. Suddenly, a Largebody hurled itself at him, crushing him beneath its huge weight. The room went black.

"Ahh!" I threw the remote across the room. "I keep on dying at this part!"

_Huh… Keyblade…. The game is awesome… _I lay back on my bed, taking a momentary break from my Playstation 2. It was always the same game: Kingdom Hearts.

_Boy, do I wish I was Sora. Huh,_ I thought to myself. _Like that will ever happen. Or maybe Riku, he's always been cool._

Noticing my hunger, I jogged downstairs. _Nothing good in the fridge. Oh well, might as well get the group together._ I dialed a number on his cell phone. "Hey, little Chris, what's up?"

My friend, who incidentally shared my name, Chris, but everyone always called him C, replied over the noise of his guitar. "Hey big bro, I'm just strumming with Rodney here. Did you hear about his friend? She's pretty cute."

"I'll see about that when I get there." I looked out the window. The sky seemed prematurely dark. Strange, I could imagine this same weather in the last level of Destiny Islands in Kingdom Hearts. "Hey dude, isn't it supposed to be sunny today?"

"That's what the weather said."

"Look outside." I grabbed a bag with everything I might need in it that I always kept ready and yelled to my older brother. "I'll be back here tomorrow, don't wait up for me!" my older brother Michael was always cool, but significantly more interested in himself then me.

As I jogged down the city streets, I noticed a distinct absence of noise. Pure silence. The gloom made me nervous, my nerves tensed to the limit. Something about the silence was oppressive. _Why is it so silent? New York should always have some noise…_ I was intensely glad I had taken karate classes, even though when I put up my hood I looked so much like a serial killer that people were scared to mess with me.

I nearly rammed the door open to C's apartment. C was strumming his guitar, while Rodney and a girl were talking animatedly while playing, guess what, Kingdom Hearts.

"Seriously?" I asked as I sat down. "I keep on dying on this part of Hollow Bastion. I wish I had the Beast." I studied the girl. She had black hair just past her jaw line, a white t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, a small tattoo of a keyblade I had seen on Deviant Art called Lurebreaker on her shoulder, black jeans, and a spiked bracelet. Her eyebrow was pierced. Definitely a contrast to my black hooded sweater, with a black jacket over it, and a pair of torn up faded dark blue jeans. She was full-figured, and her strange, purple eyes had something about them that seemed familiar. Something that was… no, it couldn't be…

"Who are you?" I asked in a strange voice. C stopped his playing for a moment to look at my awed face.

The girl looked at me, slightly flattered, slightly amused, and more then a little confused. "Hi, my name is Ashley. Who are you?"

Breaking from my trance, I held out my hand. "I'm Chris. Also known as Talonflight by these weird people." I said jokingly. I turned my attention once more to the screen. "Its too bad Kingdom Hearts isn't real. What an adventure that would be."

"I'm kind of glad it isn't." Rodney said. "I don't have a death wish because I can't make portals."

"Are we so sure that it isn't real?" Ashley said, half joking, half serious. "The Heartless might just have not gotten to us yet."

I groaned. "Please don't tempt me. It's bad enough getting to play it and not being able to experience it."

"Well…" Ashley glanced at the dark sky. It looked like night, even though it was only three in the afternoon. "I'm just saying."

"Oh, by the way, have you guys heard about the event of the Tame Heartless?" I pulled out a sheaf of papers from my bag. "Supposedly, when Sora doesn't kill Kairi when he's a Shadow Heartless, he inspired another one to do the same thing. Some Shadow Heartless became far more powerful then just a Heartless and saved Ventus's life in Birth by Sleep-"

"Dude, I'm telling you, that don't happen. Heartless are killers. Sora was merely an aberration." Rodney interrupted. Each of us carried a bag with them at all times. My bag contained a copy of Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, as well as a copy of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days, and an advance copy of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, plus my blood-red scarf and sketchbook and an extra pair of boxers. C had in his bag a portable version of the Playstation 2, food, and extra picks, while Rodney had a portable mini TV and a lightning bolt ring, all in case we got stuck somewhere for the night and were bored. Yes, we were the ultimate Kingdom Heart's obsessed people.

"Whatever." I looked outside. "Mind if I crash here for tonight? I'm too lazy to walk back home."

"Dude, you're the most in shape of any of us, the best at fighting, and the tallest, and the fastest. You have no right to say you're too lazy." C laughed it off.

"Well, I'm gonna crash." I headed for Rodney's room, glancing back occasionally to look at Ashley. Before I went to sleep, I looked at Rodney's collectable broadsword and katana: Basher and Bladesinger, the weapons of thunder. _Well, if he can have his imaginary weapons, then so can I._ I thought. With that, I drew a picture of myself, holding Riku's sword from Kingdom Hearts one: Soul Eater, in one hand, the power of Darkness exuding from me. Then I drew another picture of myself, wounded, desperate, and holding Last Chaos, a darkness keyblade I had invented from my mind. I placed then in my pocket, and fell asleep.

_They're good guys, my friends are… good guys…_ I fell into oblivion.

* * *

Something moved in the night. I sat bolt upright and looked at the clock. _11:50 pm… I slept awhile. That or this is a dream. It sure feels like one._ I got up and looked out the window.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled. Something black with yellow eyes had hurled itself at the window! I stumbled back, waking up a sleeping Rodney. C darted into the room.

"God, Chris, did you see outside?" he yelled. He was still holding his guitar. I grabbed my chain from my jeans.

"Rodney, get your things and be ready in the living room." I ran upstairs, thinking we had thieves in the house. Ashley wasn't there. I listened for any sound. I heard the latch to the roof opening and closing.

"Why is it always me…?" I muttered as I ran up the stairs and onto the roof. I saw Ashley standing there, staring out onto the street.

"Come back inside Ashley!" I called. "It isn't safe!" I looked up at the sky, and saw a vortex pattern appearing. I recognized it instantly. "Oh no… Oh no…" **(Cue song: "Valentines Day" by Linkin Park)**

I had seen that pattern in the sky in Kingdom Hearts, in the level in which Destiny Islands had been invaded by Heartless. Only here there were no Keyblades or powers, only us. And the Heartless.

So this had to be a dream, right? Gotcha.

Rodney and C barged up onto the roof. Rodney had his Katana in his hand, and his broadsword sheathed across his back. "What's happening?"

"Look" I said. On the ground, the little puddles of Darkness were appearing, with the two yellow orbs for eyes.

Rodney merely nodded. "It looks like Ashley was right all along. We're all dead." He drew his other weapon. "Thing is, I'm not going down that easy."

I nodded. "We can't just accept our fate and die". I was sure this was a dream. It had to be. And that was the type of thing that was said in dreams, right?

I grabbed my heavy chain. "C, you got anything?"

"Only my guitar." He hefted it.

"Ash?" I asked. Then she turned and faced me with hollow eyes.

"It's happening. It's coming."

"Ash, snap out of it." I tapped her face.

"This world has been connected." She said slowly. "Tied to the darkness. It is here to kill us."

"Whatever we knew is gone now. It's up to us. Stop talking like Ansem. I mean, Xehanort's Heartless." I said while trying to wake her from her trance.

She snapped out of it. She grabbed a knife. _Jeez, this is a dangerous girl._ I thought. "I'm ready". She said.

"Let's go."

Suddenly, a Neoshadow leaped up to where they stood. It bowled Ashley down, knocked Rodney out of the way, and headed for C.

_This is it. I want to wake up._ I thought, and launched myself into a karate kick. It connected, and I lashed out with the chain. It disappeared. But then a large group of Neoshadows appeared around us. _What a sucky way to die in a dream._

Suddenly, a Shadow leaped towards them. It charged up a blast, and destroyed the group of Neoshadows in a volley of black lightning. Then it grabbed me and my friends, and we were engulfed in its teleportation move. _Hold on, even in a dream, Shadows aren't supposed to be able to do that… What the he- _was my last thought before blackness took me like a thief takes a poorly guarded jewel.

Down in the streets, people screamed as heartless made short work of the world that its inhabitants called Earth. People cried out, and people died. Then in a flash, the heart of the world was found, and six billion people were wiped out, and a planet was removed from existence. A singe white form shot from where the world used to be: the remains of a nobody. And a single corridor of darkness shot from it, leading to another world.

**Yes, I know, this has happened before. But it gets better, trust me. Nothing happens anymore that is consistent with the Kingdom Hearts timeline. Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:_ David Frostmourne_: Assignment.

"Runner, I have a task for you."

"Yes, you're Majesty?"

"Call Frostmourne" said the King.

_I always get the dirty work._

Two hours later, a simple looking man, unthreatening except for his intense eyes walked into the King's hall.

_For the King to call me there must be a task that others have failed at, and deem an impossible mission._ I, David Frostmourne, looked forward to whatever challenge lay ahead. I was used to not being able to depend on anyone, but myself. In situations when others would give up, or see only defeat, I always had the gift of rising up, and seeing solutions to seemingly impossible challenges. You couldn't trust anyone but yourself to get things done right… with the possible exception of the King.

I entered the throne room and bowed low. "Your Majesty, you called for me?" I asked.

"Yes, I did." A figure emerged from a pile of papers, holding a bunch in his hands. He was very short, with two large ears, and a black nose, and his tail swished behind him, his black cloak billowing in his wake. The King, Mickey, was a mouse. He was also a renowned Keyblade wielder. Personally, I had no idea as to what the whole talk of "Keyblade" had been about; all I knew was that two others had been sent to find a person who wielded one as a weapon: the King's magician, Donald, and his Captain of Knights, Goofy. They were still on the way to their first world, Traverse Town, to meet some guy called Leon, a friend of the Kings. I had read his profile. He was a good fighter, one of the qualities I respected.

"Sorry to call you up on such short notice, Frostmourne, but I have to leave right away. Everyone else in the castle believes that I already left yesterday." The king shoved two papers towards me. "Read these on the way. Time is short."

"What's my objective-" I started to ask, but the King was already rushing towards the hanger.

"You'll have to use the Anti-Gummi for transportation. It has a few advantages, but it's still not as reliable as the Gummi Ship." the King went on. "I'm on a journey to stop a certain man from attaining control of a very dangerous place. Your job is to search the worlds for a man named Cloud Strife. I've heard he could be a great asset to our cause." he looked me in the eye. "I chose you for this mission because you are the best I've got. No even Donald and Goofy have the strengths you have, or your adaptability." He turned towards the Anti-Gummi and handed it to me. One thing I liked about the King was that he liked doing things himself, and never made someone do something if he could do it. "Once you make contact with Cloud, direct him to that world called Hollow Bastion. On your journey, if you happen to encounter Donald and Goofy, and the Keyblade Master they've been sent to find, you should not hesitate to help them." He paused. "Sorry, I can't assign you some backup. My agents are all out in the field."

"I prefer to work alone, your Majesty." In a travel bag over my shoulder was my battle attire: A pair of spiked gauntlets with spiked "wings" that extended from the wrist all the way past my elbow. I had also slipped a small, gold punch knife into my pocket: my lucky charm, and useful weapon. My only clothing was a white leather vest, and a pair of black jeans. "I've always worked better alone."

"And that's the reason that I'm worried." He muttered. Then he faced me. "Now go and begin your search."

"Where should I start?" I asked.

"Try Traverse Town, or maybe Hollow Bastion or Twilight Town. Your guess is as good as mine." He shrugged. "Now get gone. I have to leave now too." With that, he created a portal of pure light, and left me there with the small device known as the Anti-Gummi.

_Huh... Same old King..._ I walked over to the Anti-Gummi. It was supposed to manipulate darkness and light to make a portal of the two. The nice part was that it was about as big as a watch. The not so nice part was that a single portal sapped much of the rechargeable battery's life, and you had to wait for a while for the battery to reach full again. If you tried to teleport without full power, there was a large chance your portal could become unstable, and leave you in a random world, or worse, stranded in gummi space. Being stranded in gummi space wasn't so bad because these days you could be picked up by a world traveler. I had once been left on a star, where there was some weird, aerial civilization with floating buildings. Worst case, rarest scenario: you were stranded in the Void: a strange area where there was simply nothing, worse even then the World of Darkness, for in the Void nothing at all existed, not even darkness. It was merely... nothing. It would be a slow, painful death if I was left there. The Void had the power to suck your life force from your heart and leave you dying there. But still, no use worrying over something that wasn't going to happen to me if I was careful.

I activated the device and stepped through the portal. I emerged into a darkened city. _Traverse Town._ I thought. _Maybe I'll run into Donald and Goofy here. I kind of hope I don't, though. _I walked down the streets, watching everyone I saw as I strolled through the first district. _Those guys might be good at what they do, but I have no doubt that they could draw me into a conflict that would delay me._

I looked over the papers. The first one was Cloud's profile. He was an ex member of a private squad belonging to some Shinra Electric Makko Energy Company. _Hmm... Shinra… That name…_ I vaguely remembered a man named Shinra appearing in our castle, wounded from an explosion. He had talked about a man named Cloud. When asked about how he was injured, he said only a few words: "Hell's Dark Harbinger… _Sephiroth…_" A nice title… I looked at the second sheet of paper. It was a picture of a man with long white hair and grey eyes, and a katana that was far too long for a normal person's taste. Under the photo was the name Sephiroth Jenova. _Same guy Shinra was talking about. Cloud's friend, maybe? Enemy? _A further look at Cloud's profile confirmed the latter. Sephiroth and Cloud were mortal enemies… _and Sephiroth brings out the darkness in Cloud's heart. Huh… Interesting guy. Sure sounds powerful. I wonder if he's as good as they make him seem…_

I turned a corner towards their second district and was confronted by a pair of gates with a sign on them: WARNING. THIS AREA HAS BEEN LIMITED DUE TO AN UNSAFE DENSITY OF HEARTLESS. PLEASE USE CAUTION WHEN ENTERING. ONLY TRAINED WARRIORS ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER.

_Trained warriors, eh?_ I pushed open the gate, and peered inside. I didn't see any Heartless. _That sign is almost like a challenge, goading people in here._

"Care to try your luck against the Heartless, I see." A man with a scar down his face leaned on the wall behind me. "I wouldn't recommend it. Too many people see that sign and think it's a joke." He held a gunblade idly in his hand. "I haven't seen you around here before. Are you a refugee from another world?"

"I could ask the same of you, Leon." I said as I walked towards him. I recognized his face from the file. "You should be expecting guests here. Two of the King's emissaries are coming to you to search for some person with a Keyblade. They don't go unnoticed. Trust me; you'll know those two when they get here."

"Who are you?" He asked me, all business now. "How do you know me?"

"You can call me Frostmourne. Let's just say that I'm under orders from the King to search for someone. Tell me: do you know a man named Cloud Strife? The King sent me to look for him."

"Cloud… yes, I knew him, but I haven't seen him here recently." He shouldered his weapon. "Our world was taken over by Heartless, although they haven't found its Heart yet, since his girlfriend Aerith hid it under some enchantment. We were thrown into this world, but Cloud left a few weeks ago to search for a person whom he had some vendetta against. His name started with an S… it was something like Sephiran.

"Sephiroth." I answered bluntly. "Hell's Dark Harbinger. Or so I've been told. One of your friends, Rufus Shinra, let us know before he died. Said he was Cloud's worst enemy because he brought out the darkness in Cloud's heart." I shrugged. "Well, I can't stay here forever. Give Donald and Goofy my regards." I glanced at the gate. "I think I might just check in here. There's a chance he could have been lured into there by Sephiroth. I'd better check." Thanking Leon, I walked away into the dark area. _Huh… Sephiroth… Just perfect…_ _Where do you find guys who can teleport like I can?_

"Hey." Leon called me from a ways away. "If you see a kid wearing all black, send him to the Accessory Shop. I'm waiting for him." I nodded in acknowledgement, and walked into the second district.

I stiffened and froze. My danger sense was tingling. I backed up until my back was against a wall. _Never let a Heartless come at you from behind._

Out of nowhere, a Shadow Heartless leaped at me. _Huh… weak low-forms… Not even worthy of me putting my iPod on… _A single thrust with my hand crushed its head. Whirling around, I saw a Largebody Heartless to my left, with several Soldier Heartless. _Yeah, come join the party._ I sent two Soldier's flying with kicks and punches, before grabbing a Soldier and throwing it at a Dark Ball Heartless.

_Dark Ball's… what are they doing here? They're high ranking Pureblood Heartless. They must be after something. Maybe it's me… Maybe it's Cloud… Or maybe I'm just lucky._

With the odds continuing to stack against me as more Heartless joined the brawl, I felt something course through me. In that instant, an inner deep anger lit inside me and my muscles swelled to three times their usual strength. I grinned wolfishly, while taking out three Shadows with one swing. I grabbed the gold punching knife and threw it like a dagger. It pinned two Heartless together, leaving me with only two Dark Balls, a Soldier, and the Largebody. With that, my monster strength disappeared. I grabbed the two Dark Balls by their short Tails and swung them at the remaining Soldier, killing all three, and leaving me with the Largebody.

The Largebody tried to fall on me, thinking to crush me with its heavy weight, but I nimbly leapt onto its back, where I began hammering it with my spiked gauntlets. Before long, it buckled, and I was in the clear. _Frostmourne, one, Heartless, nothing._

I retrieved my gold punching knife, and continued through the dark streets.

**Yes, I know, he quoted Axel in 358/2 Days: "I always get the dirty work". But still, it's pretty epic. I always liked the idea of the King's personal agent, sent to do the job when all else fails. Although he isn't central to the theme of the story (yet), you must admit, he's still pretty awesome.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: _Chris Vasquez: _Unawakening.

_This world has been connected… Tied to the darkness…_ I stood on the edge of a path in a veritable paradise, a forest behind me, looking out onto the beach at the lone figure standing there. _There is so very much to learn… A meaningless effort… One who knows nothing can understand nothing…_ The words seemed to echo inside my head. As I watched, the water on the beach sank down, until the beach had become a deadly cliff, with cracks running through it. The water turned a diseased purple, and one by one, things on the island began to disappear: tree's; a rock sticking up out of the surf, now a mountain; bits of the tree house and playgrounds that had been lovingly erected on the border of the jungle and the beach; and worst of all, pieces of the sky, and the sun became darkened. I heard a tearing sound behind me, and I turned to see the forest become torn up, like wrapping paper, curling away from an area where I saw the diseased purple color mixed with darkness begin to eat away at the land. I turned to the figure, and said in a voice that couldn't be heard, "_Why are you doing this?" _As I watched, I saw the figure begin to turn. It was clad in the armor of darkness, with short black hair, with a single slash of white in his hair near the front. In its hand was a bat-wing shaped sword. As I watched, the wing unfurled and twisted, and it took on the shape of a dark keyblade. Then the figure completed its turn, and I saw the face. I screamed a silent scream, unheard in the destroyed paradise. For the figure had my own face.

I clenched my fists. First the nightmare of the destruction of my own world, and now this.

Dark malice filled the face of the person on the shore, and the me who was not me spoke the next few words:

_"Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison, surrounded by water. And so this boy wished to escape from his prison. His heart and mind wandered beyond the bounds of the reality of his world, although he believed he could not have it. Yet still he yearned for it, and now his wish has been granted. He wished for it, and he opened his heart to the darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. For, you see, Darkness is the hearts true essence."_

I finally found my voice in that terrible place. "You're wrong!" I yelled. "Even if darkness is all that the heart is, deep inside the darkness, there's a light that never goes out!" suddenly, in my hand there was the bat winged sword. As I looked at it, I saw darkness crawl up my arm, and begin to cover my body. I screamed. But when the darkness on me cleared, I was wearing a red scarf for a blindfold, with a black fighting outfit with a red symbol on it. Somehow, I could see through the blindfold as it it weren't there. I began to charge the figure of darkness that had my face, but then the last remaining thing on the island disappeared: the ground. As I fell into blackness, I hear a voice speaking. The only encouragement I could hear.

_Come on, Chris. I thought you were stronger then that._

Then I saw the me who was not me draw back his weapon for a kill, as we fell through nothingness, and I felt a sharp pain in my head-

-My eyes snapped open. I sat up. I was in a bed in a room sparsely furnished with a fireplace, a chair, a bed, and a bookshelf. _Where am I?_ I wondered. I sat up, confused. "Rodney? Ashley? C?" I called. I got out of bed, and was surprised to find that my clothes had been torn up. I looked around and saw a note. I picked it up

_Chris. Once you put on your new clothes, follow the map to the Accessory Shop. We'll be waiting for you there. –Rodney, Ashley, C, and a friend._

I saw a black hooded sweater lying on a chair, and a black jacket, along with a pair of black jeans. They were similar to my old clothes, but they were obviously different. _They're much better quality too. _I thought as I put them on. They were light, and easy to move in. Reaching into the tatters of my old clothes. I pulled out the drawings. _What a crazy dream… Could it be that it was because I had drawn this right before I slept?_ I put them into the pocket of my jacket. Then I snatched the map up and followed it out.

_Okay… I turn the corner here._ I turned the corner. _The entrance to the first district is here… Where the heck am I!? Is this even still New York City? We better not be in New Jersey again…_

Right before I could step out into the brightness of the first district, I paused. Looking ahead, I saw a man with spiked gauntlets battling a group of Heartless. _What the heck… Heartless? Don't tell me I'm going insane! Heartless aren't real!_ I blinked, and looked again. The man had already subdued the Heartless. _Wait… does this mean… that dream…_

I collapsed against a wall, and buried my head in my hands. My world… _My brothers… my friends… everything… Gone…_ As if in a state of shock, I stayed there I don't know how long.

"Hey kid, you all right?" I looked up. The man who had just killed the Heartless was standing over me. I gave him a death look.

"I'm about as all right as anyone can be when they're world has just been destroyed! Why can't you just mind your own bus-"

The man grabbed me and threw me behind him. I scrambled to my feet and saw the reason why.

A huge Heartless was standing where I had been sitting moments before.

_It's a Guard Armor._ I thought, immediately identifying the heartless. _Famous for the way it turns upside down._

The man and the Heartless were locked in an epic fight. I couldn't tell who would win. Suddenly, a group of Soldier Heartless appeared around me.

_I wonder… Does it hurt when they steal your heart?_ I stood there, waiting for the attack. I thought I was dead for sure. I didn't even have my chain.

Suddenly, a small figure leaped in front of me. A wave of black electricity fried the heartless. Then the figure turned towards me. I saw a pair of yellow Heartless eyes. I shut my eyes, preparing for the blow-

A soft thing nudged my cheek.

I looked up. The Shadow Heartless didn't move, merely stood there poking me as if curious. I stood up, and it looked at me, curiously.

"You… You saved me..." I stammered. Then, on impulse, I reached down and scratched it gently behind its long antenna. It made a happy noise. _Heh… it's kind of cute… I always did want a Shadow as a pet._

I looked back at the man. He was limping from a gash on his knee. "You all right?" I asked.

"Just a scratch." He looked at the heartless. "Why isn't that thing trying to kill us? And why are you petting it?"

"It's not dangerous." I shrugged. "It saved me. It's the least I can do to try and save it from _you_."

"I saw." He frowned. "I meant, why did it save you?"

"Beats me." I continued petting it. "A heartless of the same kind saved my life in my home world. I think it teleported me to this world."

At that, the Shadow began nudging me and pointing at itself, as well as making squeaking noises.

"What about you?" I asked. Then a thought occurred to me. "Was it you? Was it you that saved me and my friends?" The Heartless nodded, and winked.

"Heh." I laughed. "At least one person here is happy." I looked down at my protector. "How do you tell whether a Heartless is a boy or girl?"

"Its antennas are straight, with only one bend. It's a male." The man grunted. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Name's Chris Talonflight." I said, thinking that Vasquez would be a poor last name to venture the worlds with. "You?"

"You can call me Frostmourne."

"I meant your first name."

"I don't give people that."

"Paranoid." I shrugged. "Anyway, can you help me get to the first district? I know I have the Heartless here to help me, but still…"

"Huh…" Frostmourne shrugged. "Fine." He began walking.

"You're a pretty cute little guy, Shadow." I bent over the Shadow and gave it a final pet before following Frostmourne. "I think I'll call you Nudge, since your always nudging me." Nudge, as the Shadow Heartless was now named, nudged me, made a happy squeak, and followed me down the street.

"This is it." Frostmourne gestured at a door. "Have fun." He began fiddling with something on his watch, and then paused. "You wouldn't happen to know someone named Cloud Strife, would you?"

I paused, recalling all I knew of the warrior from Final Fantasy 7. "He's a good guy. Way too hard on himself, but a good guy. He's probably chasing Sephiroth. All I can tell you is that he'll end up in Olympus Coliseum sometime soon. Good hunting for him." The man nodded, and was engulfed in a portal of light and darkness. _Weird… He isn't in the Kingdom Hearts games… Wonder who he is-_

"Chris!" I was tackled by a female figure. "Look out!" Ashley lashed out at Nudge, who dodged nimbly. I shook Ashley off.

"Stop it! Wait!"

Leon ran up with his gunblade, and was about to slice Nudge in two, when I leaped in front of him.

"You idiots!" I berated them. "Yes, I know it's a Heartless, but could you wait a second while I explain?"

Rodney and C followed at a more dignified pace. Rodney's katana and broadsword looked strange. As if it was encased in electricity. "Welcome back."

"Hey." I nodded to them. "Now before anyone tries to kill him, this little Shadow Heartless saved our lives."

"What?" Leon was confused.

"When we were on our world when it was being destroyed, I remember a Shadow Heartless saving us." I explained. "Then, on my way here, I was attacked by some other Heartless, and this little guy saved me." I petted him. "His name is Nudge. You can pet him, he's friendly." In a few, minutes, Leon and the rest were more at ease with Nudge, and they invited him inside.

We were immediately hit by a flash of light, strong enough to obliterate a Heartless. I instinctively wrapped my arms around Nudge to protect him. Then I saw a man with a Texas accent and a girl ninja getting ready to attack Nudge. Cid and Yuffie.

I sighed. It would take a while to explain this to everyone else.

A few minutes later, our story told, Ashley remembered something. "Oh, I have something to show you guys!"

She stretched out her hand, and what should appear there but a sword in the shape of a key. I was stunned. Why her?

She was the wielder of the keyblade. Hers was named Lurebreaker.

Rodney drew his weapons with a smile. "Check out this." They began sparking and crackling with electricity. I was again stunned. I was the most stunned when C went to get his new guitar.

He had Demyx's instrument. I went crazy.

"Ahh!" I grunted in frustration. "Why do you guys all get badass weapons while I don't?!"

"You never know." Leon pointed out. "Have you tried summoning a weapon?"

"No." I admitted.

"Try." Leon suggested.

I focused all I had on summoning a weapon. A power. Anything. Something to help me survive.

A bat-winged sword appeared in my hand.

"NO!" I yelled, and dropped the sword. It laid there, a weapon of darkness. I remembered the drawings I had made before this all began.

The sword was Soul Eater. I was the Wielder of Darkness.

* * * *

"Darkness doesn't have to be a bad thing, Chris."

My friends had been trying to comfort me, but I wasn't happy. Why did I have to be the one using evil?

"Darkness isn't necessarily evil, Chris." Leon said. "If the heartless were made of light, and the keyblade of darkness, we would have said that light was evil. Powers and such are not evil or good by themselves; it is the way we use them that make them evil. Any weapon is only as good or evil as the one who wields it. If you use Darkness for the good of the worlds, then for you Darkness is good."

We were still in the accessory shop when I had an idea. "Hey C, do you guys still have your bags?"

"Sure do." He lifted them. "You want to set them up?"

"Definitely." I nodded. "I need to make sure that my memory is all that I think it is."

"What is this?" Leon was curious. Cid and Yuffie were outside.

"It's what we call a video game." I explained. "You have computer games here, don't you? It's kind of like that, only a lot more detailed and with a storyline. This series of games details the mission of a keyblade wielder."

"But isn't Ashley the keyblade wielder?" Leon asked.

"The storyline doesn't have to necessarily be true." I explained. "It's just a story, only you get to fight the battles and watch the other occurrences like it's a movie. Like a playable book." I slid the disc in. "You are actually in this one, Leon, as are your friends. I have an idea."

The game started, and the credits started rolling up. Then Leon saw something.

"The person who wrote this story... His name was Tetsuya Nomura?" he asked.

"Yeah." I was confused. "Why?"

"He was from my world." He looked at me, serious. "He had a talent for seeing visions. I think," he pointed to the screen, "that this here game might be a version of what he saw. This game is the future, and more then that, Tetsuya was my stepbrother."

**WOOT! Tetsuya Nomura (the person who wrote the Kingdom Hearts series) is related to Leon/Squall? Epic win! Plus, CHRIS GOES RIKU STATUS! Epic win for this chapter. I also like the idea of Yuffie and Nudge playing video games… awe, wouldn't that be a cute picture?... Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:_ David Frostmourne_: Lightning Blades

_ Please don't tell me that this is what I think it is._ I hammered on the creatures back until it fell over. There were far too many giant Heartless here for my comfort. My strength was very high since the odds were nearly impossible. The fact that the more there were against me the stronger I got was definitely in my favor. The second I had arrived in Hollow Bastion I had encountered a witch named Maleficent, and nearly gotten fried by some green flames. I had escaped, however, as the witch was not part of my assignment. Now I was in a ruined town, searching it for traces of Cloud, thinking that he might have come here. But I hadn't seen him.

_Who was that kid back in Traverse Town?_ I kept wondering. _And why didn't that Heartless attack him? I need to know eventually or I'll go nuts!_ I killed another Heartless. Damn it! There were too many, even for me. But I couldn't leave yet: the Anti-Gummi wasn't at full power yet.

Two Darkside Heartless approached me, with another Guard Armor and a Chameleon behind it. No choice. Mentally cursing the situation, I made the portal and fled through it. _My strength may increase exponentially when the odds are higher, but I'm still human._

There was an instant of pain, and then I was in another world. I looked up: I was surrounded by a town. Twilight Town. _Whew, the portal was stable enough to get me here… I need to be more careful in the future! _I began walking down the street.

"Hey stranger, I haven't seen you here in a long time!" I turned, and my pulse quickened. A beautiful woman with blond hair stood there.

"Iris." I nodded. "It certainly has been a while. Are you still working for that madman?"

She sighed. "Yes, unfortunately, but it pays well, and he treats me well. It's a good job to have, even if I do not enjoy it." Iris was a nursemaid in the house of the mayor of Twilight Town, and she took care of the old man's children.

"You know," I lowered my voice, "you don't need to do this. If you come with me, I could get you to the palace of the King, and-"

"No David!" Iris stopped me. "What is done is done. To come here was my choice. I don't have any regrets. Moro and Mara are sweet children."

I snorted. There was no love lost between me and the brats. Once, I had been assigned to investigate a ring of inter-world drug dealers, and the trail had led me to the house of the mayor. The trail had kept going, although there was a series of rather unpleasant events, instigated by me in attempts to find where he had the drugs hidden. It had come to nothing, however, although the two children had caught me in their room and attacked me with water balloons. Water is fine enough for drinking and swimming, but I didn't appreciate spending the winter night soaking wet on the beach.

"You know, Iris, what the king is doing now, don't you?"

Iris had a gift for prophecy. She could see glimpses of the future. I had first encountered her as a fortune teller in the street here in Twilight Town. She knew about other worlds, but had no desire to see them. Truth be told, she wasn't missing much. A world was just a world, in my opinion.

Iris focused. "He's in a lot of danger, but it's nothing he can't handle. All around him is darkness, and his light draws the Heartless to him. What I keep seeing is another world, a city at night, where four children have just arrived… but not really children anymore, they are eighteen, I think… Two of them possess elemental powers of lightning and water, respectively. One of the other two is the target of your co workers Donald and Goofy. They should arrive in that world in a few days. The last child is different. He wears all black. He is clouded by something I cannot pierce. Walking next to him is... a shadow heartless? I cannot tell, but both the child and his friends are powerful." Her eyes cleared. "I can't see anything else."

"Traverse Town." I remembered. "I met that boy there. We got into a battle with Heartless, and the boy was about to be killed, but a shadow heartless jumped in the way and saved him. Afterwards, the two were like best friends. I showed him to Cid's place, and then came here." I paused. "You say he's clouded? Can you tell what blocks him?"

"Mists… like black fog… like darkness itself." She whispered. "He frightens me… yet at the same time, his face is the kind you can trust on instinct. He isn't evil, but I have a feeling he doesn't know what he is either."

"Hmm…" I thought. _Who is that kid? Why didn't the heartless attack him? What world is he from? _"Do you think I should return there and bring him to the king?"

Iris shook her head. "Even if you could, you wouldn't know where to find the king, and the king could be just as unknowledgeable as you. Let him be, _hitsuzen_ will play itself out."

_Hitsuzen… "Fate"…_ "I do have a mission." I pulled out a picture of the man I was hunting. "Would you have happened to see this man in your visions?"

"Cloud Strife, wielder of the Buster Sword. Searching the worlds for a man named Sephiroth." She paused, focusing again. "I've seen him on his way to Olympus Coliseum. Maybe you could find him there."

"Thank you, Iris." I took her hand. "As always, you are a godsend." I kissed her hand. "Thank you."

* * * * * *

I awoke in Iris's house, and left without disturbing her. She was still sleeping.

_Olympus Coliseum, huh? All right, I'll check it out._ I slid on my weapons. Then I activated the Anti-Gummi, and stepped through to Olympus Coliseum.

I emerged, right into the middle of a Heartless match. An army of Heartless was taking on a large monster. I slipped my iPod on. Then I charged. **(Cue song "Wake Me Up (dance mix)" by Evanescence.)**

My muscles swelled, and I took out several Soldier Heartless with a few blows. Then I performed a back flip onto the head of the monster Hydra. With a few punches, I targeted the heart. If you targeted the necks and heads of the Hydra, it would grow another head for every one that you destroyed. The wings on my gauntlets flipped forward and became a pair of short swords. I used these to stab the heart of the Hydra, killing it in one blow. It was a tactic that was not usually used. Other warriors preferred to take out the heads, since the Hydra could only grow a maximum of seven heads before they died permanently. I preferred no drawn out battle.

Landing on the ground again, I faced nearly fifty shadow heartless. _Only Shadows? Phil must be slacking these days._ I charged forwards, cutting a swathe through the group. Then I stopped on a dime and spun in a circle, taking out several more with my outstretched arms. Then I flipped the wing-swords back down to my arms, and proceeded to punch out the remaining Shadows. Then there was only one left, a giant Darkside. _Hmm… that explains why there were only Shadows… This match was probably originally Hydra vs. Darkside, but the Darkside has the ability to summon Shadows._ I ran forwards, and targeted an arm. I gripped it, and then began a test of strength with the giant heartless, both of us pushing and sweating, trying to push the other back. In the end, my odds-enhanced strength won over, and I snapped the arm of the giant enemy cleanly off and threw it behind me, where it dissolved into nothingness. Then I hurled myself at the tiny legs of the giant being. I rammed them from under it, and the Darkside fell over. That was the sealing of its fate. I slid out my golden punching blade, and hurled it at the eyes of the fallen creature. It pierced it deeply, and it died twitching before disappearing in a wave of darkness. I retrieved my weapons, bowed to the ones who had come to the Coliseum to view the combat. Then I stalked off into the area where Phil was waiting. The pudgy faun was trying hard to be mad at me, although he couldn't quite pull it off, since there was a good chance for more money coming from the results of today's match.

"You idiot!" He spluttered. "You interfered with my match. I had a feeling something would go wrong today! At least you didn't get yourself killed." He grunted. "Good to have you back. Hercules has a new match today against those idiot heartless; I'm still upset that you took out that one. I had my bet on it to kill the Hydra."

I smiled. "Your gambling will get you one day, Phil." I pulled out the photo of Cloud. "I'm looking for this man. Have you seen him?"

Phil scratched his head. "A guy with the name Cloud was signed up for the Hercules Cup last night. I haven't seen him here though. The Hercules Cup isn't for three weeks. You would probably have better luck then. Sorry that I can't help you more." He paused, suspicious. "Of course, if you would tell me who you worked for, then I might be able to help you more."

"Sorry Phil." I shook my head. "Even if I was allowed to tell you, you wouldn't believe me."

**Hmm… the steroid has a girlfriend… LOL… nice job interrupting Phil's match. From now on we will be having other people's perspectives as alternate chapters, not just David Frostmourne. I'm thinking maybe C or Leon or Yuffie for the next chapter. Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:_ Chris Talonflight_: Mind Games

If Leon had been astounded by our PS2 and video games, then Yuffie was enthralled by them, as well as Nudge starting to gain interest in them. I must admit, Yuffie was cute. But it's kind of hard not to think that you're imagining things when you're with a bunch of people from a video game while playing that same video game with them.

"This is awesome!" Yuffie squealed, as Nudge continued to beg her for the remote. She was in the middle of a fight against a group of heartless, on the first level of Traverse Town. I hoped that we hadn't gotten her quite as addicted to the game as we had been. "It's so easy, and it makes it fun!" She completed the fight and we reached a cutscene. Sora and Leon were walking down the street, searching for the Keyhole, when there was an explosion, and Donald and Goofy came sailing down on their heads. As we watched, they joined Sora, explained the situation, and were surprised by a Guard Armor. **(Isn't the image of Yuffie playing kingdom Hearts with a Shadow Heartless just cute and priceless?)**

"Hold on!" I looked at the screen. "This Guard Armor isn't in Traverse Town anymore. Some guy named Frostmourne killed it. I saw him."

"Frostmourne." Leon muttered. "A strange man. I met him earlier today, entering the second district."

I shook my head. "Enough." I snatched the controller from Yuffie with a grin. "I need a break from the brainwork. We probably have another day or so before Goofy and Donald arrive and get to where Sora meets them." I glanced at my friends. "I need a drink. Are there any bar's in Traverse Town?"

Leon gave me a stern look. "You're underage, aren't you? Your like, 16."

I gave him an equally determined look. "I'm eighteen. In my world, I'm legal." This was not quite true, but Leon didn't have to know that…

Leon thought it over, but Yuffie interrupted. "Come on, Squall, let him go. I'll go along with him and make sure nothing happens!"

Now, that made Leon's groans even louder. "You? In a bar? Honestly Yuffie, I trust this kid here in a bar more then you." He shrugged. "It isn't my fault if you get yourself beat up. Have fun." He walked away in surrender.

"You guys coming?" I asked C and the rest. Ashley had been abnormally quiet since we had found out my powers. Maybe she felt bad for me.

"No." Rodney stated flatly. "I'm not getting into another brawl."

"I should probably practice with my water powers." C said apologetically. "I have to learn the tunes that make the water dance."

"Ash?" I asked the keyblade wielder. "How about you?"

"I should stay and wait for Donald and Goofy." She said quietly.

"Nudge?" I asked the little Shadow. He had finally gained possession of the remote, and was playing Kingdom Hearts with more skill then even I could… strange… he liked video games THAT much?

Nudge looked at me, looked back at the screen, back at me, looked at the remote, and sighed quietly, while turning back to the game.

"Ahh!" I threw up my hands. "You guys are no fun!"

I stomped out into the streets, dragging Yuffie behind me, leaving behind the sounds of Nudge beating the Guard Armor.

"So, where's this bar?" I asked. "I don't remember it on the map of Traverse Town."

"It's in this direction." Yuffie cheerfully pointed the opposite direction to where I was headed. I had to stop and walk back. Yuffie giggled. "You're so funny."

"What's funny?" I asked, still trying to feign the angry mood.

"You. You act funny. Your always getting annoyed by nothing, but you get amused easily too."

"I am _not_ amused too easily!" I said, now annoyed. Yuffie kept giggling.

"You're cute when you get angry." She laughed. "How old are you really?"

"Eighteen." I grunted. "Turning nineteen in three months and two days."

"Awe, we have the same birthday, and we're the same age! Booyaka!" she laughed and punched the air with a big smile. I thought about that: _isn't Yuffie supposed to be older? Or was that only in the game? I did think there was something younger about her… Or maybe it's that the Cataclysm happened earlier then I expected, before or during the events in Dirge of Cerberus… And why is she using Slelphie's catchphrase?_

The Cataclysm… the event that had separated the worlds. In the beginning, there had only been three worlds: Reality, the mysterious Insomnion, and Fantasy. When the Cataclysm occurred, Darkness shattered the connections holding Fantasy together, resulting in the many worlds that now existed. My world, known as Reality, had been shifted to a place in space so far away from Fantasy that we had long since forgotten about the events of the far-off Cataclysm, and for us the term "Fantasy" meant to daydream. No one knew what had happened to Insomnion.

"Are you always this energetic?" I asked. "Or did you drink Red Bull this morning?"

"What's Red Bull?" She asked.

"Never mind."

We entered the bar. **(Cue song "Rockstar" by Nickelback) **Surprisingly, there was a song that I knew playing here.

"Who sings this song?" I asked. I had no idea how Nickelback had gotten all the way out here.

"I don't know." Yuffie replied. "I've never heard it before. But it rocks!" She walked over to the bar and started ordering something long and complicated. "What'll you have?"

"A vodka." I replied. When my drink got to me, it wasn't the same type of vodka that was had on Earth, but a different kind. I didn't care. I had only tasted vodka once. All I knew was that something alcoholic would probably give me a confidence booster for what was to come, or something.

After my second drink Yuffie pulled me away from the bar. She didn't want me drunk when Donald and Goofy got here. That was probably a good thing, considering she was on the verge of being drunk herself. I looked at her. She had beautiful eyes.

"Hey you, shrimp!"

I turned, and saw a huge, drunk, and amazingly muscular man with a knife looking at me. "Hand the chick over, now, or I'll pummel you until you can't see your face!"

"Shut up, **(sorry I have to censor this) **b****." I cursed at him. "Go find yourself a place to sleep off your lousy ass hangover."

"Chris!" Yuffie was shocked at my language. "You-"

"Not now." I said firmly. "This guy would try and rape you if he could. I don't intend to let that happen."

"I can take care of myself, you know." She said, pouting.

"I know, but you would probably go easy on this guy because he's drunk." I grabbed my chain. "Me, on the other hand…" I smirked. "I just need to beat up something."

The giant man lurched towards me, his face ugly. "I'm gonna teach you a lesson!" he said, snarling. "You little-"

He was interrupted by a kick from me. Then my chain wrapped around his neck, and he was thrown to the ground, clutching his windpipe.

"Funny how this works out." I said calmly. "Who's getting the lesson taught?"

He leapt up, swinging wildly with his knife. I backed up, dodging his strikes. Then someone caught me from behind, with the intention of pinning my arms. I spun, kicking him and the giant in the face with one kick, while rebounding off the wall to land in a spider pose in front of Yuffie.

_Whoa… How…. How did I do that? It was so automatic…. Like it wasn't me…._ Further wonderment was fore stalled by three other men joining the side of the giant man. Then a giant spinning X shaped shuriken flew forwards and slammed into the giant man's stomach. Yuffie caught it as it came back to her.

"Get this, fat man." She growled. "You even touch my friend, and you'll be eating your own knife." She crooked a finger at him. "Come on, you and me. Your little friends can get beat up by my friend all they want." She looked at me. "I know you can take them. Hurt them well." She smirked at me, before charging at the guy.

So I got to fight three while Yuffie fought one. Great….

The men charged. I slid between them; my movement's fluid, and automatic. My chain hit one of the men in the head, knocking him out. One down. Then one of the other men grabbed me, and I was pinned on the wall. Suddenly, a black tendril blasted out of the floor, and wrapped around the man holding me, and squeezed him. I heard something crack, ribs, probably. The tendril receded as the man dropped me, and it slid back into the ground and from the ground into…

… My hand…

The other man backed up. I crooked my finger at him, and he glanced behind him. Then he drew a sword and charged. At the last second, my hand flew up, and the sword clanged off of the weapon of darkness that I held in my hand. Soul Eater. I kicked him in the face, and hurled him back against the wall with the strength of darkness. I turned. Yuffie was staring at me.

"Are they dead?" she asked.

"No." I responded. "Just knocked out." I glanced at the man she had been fighting. He was out cold. "Nice work." I turned and walked out of the bar.

_What is wrong with me? _I berated myself. _Why did I do that? _**(Cue song "Crying Like A Child" by Utada Hikaru)**

Yuffie put a hand on my shoulder. "It's all right. It isn't your fault."

"That man will probably die because of what I did." I said bitterly. "I snapped his ribs."

"I don't know if it has occurred to you, but you will probably have to kill others in your life." Yuffie was unusually serious. "I've had to kill people, and I still hate it. But I do it because I have to. Because If I don't then other people I love will die. That's why I have to fight, and that's why I do fight. You aren't much different. If you hadn't interfered, then that man would have tried to rape me. Even though he wouldn't have succeeded, it doesn't change the fact that you were protecting me. And for that, I thank you. You hardly even know me, and you were willing to risk your life to help me." She stopped and made me face her. Then she smiled at me, a real smile, not the slightly fake smile of the giggly, laughing person she had seemed, but a smile that was genuine and real, the smile of someone who is really, truly happy. It was so breathtaking that it had an even bigger effect then when I had first seen Ashley's eyes.

"Are you all right?" she noticed a cut on my arm.

"That jerk with a knife got in a lucky cut when I got grabbed." I noticed it too. "It's nothing."

She began looking at it carefully. "Your blood… it's not as red as it should be."

I looked. It was red… but mixed with it was a dark substance, which gave it a darker color. "Could it be the darkness?"

"Maybe…" Yuffie sniffed it. "Your blood smells like cinnamon… Strange…"

I touched the small rivulet of blood tricking down my arm with a finger, and licked it. "It tastes… _sweet…_" I took another lick. "Taste it…"

Yuffie looked up sharply. "I shouldn't. It's your _blood_, I mean…" she trailed off.

I took some more on my finger, and held it out to her. "Try it. It's so strange…"

Her hesitation was obvious. Then, almost against her will, she extended her face towards it and licked it. Her eyes lit up. "You're right…" then she looked up, and we looked into each other's eyes, our faces less then four inches apart. Her eyes... they were so… I didn't know. I couldn't describe them, but they drew me closer and closer. Her eyes closed. My eyes closed.

Our lips pressed together, and I could feel her passion, and her hesitancy, and that one other thing that I couldn't identify, in the way that her lips moved, and the feel of her hand on my cheek, the taste of her tongue, and the feel of her soft skin.

Yuffie suddenly jerked away, pain in her eyes. "I'm sorry!" She was scarlet. Then she turned sharply, and ran off. I stood there bewildered. _What… how did this happen?_

I started walking towards the accessory shop, but then I noticed a long strip of dark grey cloth on the ground. _Yuffie's headband… she must have dropped it._ I picked it up. On the front of it, it had a symbol of a heart, with a crown on it. On the back was the name _Yuffie Stromwind._ I sighed. _Yuffie… why did this happen?_ _And why is her last name Stromwind, instead of Kisaragi? _I slid the headband into my pocket. I do not know how long I stood there in wonderment.

"I'll take your head!"

I spun around, seeing a man in a black and white final-form Xemnas-style cloak. _Oh my god… its him…_

"Juan?" I asked, scarcely believing my eyes. "How did you… what… how…"

My friend walked forward, emotionless. "When you fakers were attacked back on our world, I was watching. You could have destroyed those heartless, it would have been so easy, but you didn't."

"Wait, Juan, I didn't know anything!" I protested. "I didn't even know that I had powers!" I dodged on instinct. A scythe with a bat wing, similar to the blade on my Soul Eater, slammed into the space I had just vacated. I summoned Soul Eater. "What are you doing?! We're friends, right?"

"Guess what." He growled. "_Juan_ was your friend. _Xanju_, on the other hand… only knows that you didn't prevent what was fully in your power to stop, and thus caused this calamity to come upon me!"

"_Xanju_?!" I asked. "You don't mean…"

"Yes." He gave me a look. "I wasn't as lucky as you. I couldn't escape the heartless." He was now a Nobody, a person without a heart.

"Oh Juan…" I moaned, seeing him summon a second scythe, this one with the same color scheme, only reversed, and with an angel wing instead of a bat wing.

Juan, or Xanju, as he was now, took up a combat pose. "If I still had feelings, I would say that I regretted doing this, but the truth is, I feel nothing. You are merely my target. Friendship is an emotion I no longer have."

I sighed, and reluctantly summoned Soul-Eater in my right hand, my left hand twirling my chain. "I don't want to do this to you, Juan."

My foe merely spun his scythes into a better grip. "I told you, my name isn't Juan…" he charged with lightning speed. "… It's XANJU!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a figure made of water leapt in front of the strike, and blocked the strike.

"Juan, what happened to you?" C asked as he arrived, dashing forward on speeding water, strumming his sitar.

"I grew up." He growled, before unleashing a powerful combo upon my blade, his style a mix of Marluxia: the Graceful Assassin, and Xemnas: the Superior. I rolled and blocked with skill that I knew was not my own. _It's like in the game… their weapons gave them skill._

I managed to avoid Xanju's combo, and then stomped down on the handle of his white scythe. Then I grabbed the black scythe, wrenched it from his grip, and threw it at his head. It didn't hit blade first, but struck him head with the handle. He got up, growling demonically.

"It doesn't matter to me whether you're whole when you go to Kingdom Hearts, or in pieces!" he shouted. "Either way, you are destined to die by me!"

C dashed in the way of his next combo, fouling it with a stream of water. Then he blasted Xanju into a wall. "Chill out, Juan!" he yelled. "Why are you doing this?"

"You abandoned me!" he shrieked. Then he fired an ethereal beam at C, knocking him from his perch on a mountain of water. C recovered while falling, and sent out a group of water clones to attack Xanju. I took this opportunity to slide in through the melee and deal a hit with Soul Eater. However, although it sliced through his side, he muttered "cure", and healed his wounds. Then he sent me flying with a wound to my side, and slammed C with the blade of his scythe. C, wounded, flew back and landed, unable to support himself because of pain.

"This is it, Chris." Xanju, Juan, reared back to take my head off with one strike. I closed my eyes, waiting for the blow, when Xanju was thrown back by a water clone that had somehow survived, and was acting on its own: C was too weak to control it.

I charged him, and beat back his counter attack. Suddenly, he engulfed himself in a wave of light, and angel-winged bats flew out of it in a black cloud. Their little claws tore at me, and I instinctively threw up both hands, and a sphere of darkness covered me, beating back the creatures. When they disappeared, the sphere dissipated, its needs served. Then I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and looked down to see the end of the scythe protruding from it. It lifted me, and threw me against the wall. It was surprisingly not painful, but was as if I had gone numb. Suddenly, I heard a voice from the dream, only this time it had Yuffie's voice.

_Come on, Chris. I thought you were stronger then that._

I was covered in darkness, and when it receded I was clothed in a black fighting outfit, with a red Heartless symbol on it. I had my red scarf as a blindfold, which for some reason I could see through as clear as day. I also had a single white streak in the front of my hair.

"No!" he yelled. "How is it possible?"

I looked down. A second Soul Eater was in my other hand, and their bat wings were twitching strangely. Then the wings unfurled and twined together. Then, in a flash of black light, they merged, and became a weapon I had imagined from my mind in that one drawing.

I lifted my dark keyblade, Last Chaos, and fired a beam of pure darkness at Xanju. He went flying back. I stood. The keyblade was heavier then Soul Eater, and designed to be wielded by both hands. While I knew I would be even better at fighting with this, since the Keyblade's skill was far above Soul Eater, I also knew immediately that this would not be my preferred weapon. It was too… foreign. Plus the fact that the raw power that was channeling through me was uncomfortable, and made everything around me slow down to compensate my mind to the fact that I was significantly faster then everything else now.

Putting my thought aside, I ran at full speed at Xanju, and began whaling on him profusely. When I finally stepped back, blood flowed from every part of his body.

"I'm sorry, Xanju." I said, genuinely sad for what my friend had become. "But you know I had no choice."

He merely glared at me, before disappearing into a dark portal. "I will be back." I let him go. I had enough problems at the moment. Turning, I lifted C, and carried him.

_Why?_ I wondered. _Did becoming a Nobody twist his view of the situation? We didn't even get these abilities until after our world died. So why is Juan…I mean XANJU… coming after us? And how did he get those weapons?_

"OH my god!" I looked up to find the source of the outburst, and saw a crowd of people in the first district. "The wards aren't keeping Heartless out anymore!"

"No!" I yelled. "It's not what you think!" they all cowered back. "I'm not a Heartless! I just have dark powers!"

That was a worse response then any I had ever given. They immediately grabbed rocks and started throwing them at me. I gritted my teeth, and endured the rain of stone. When I finally reached the accessory shop, I was bruised, and tired. Only my newly enhanced darkness filled body was keeping me on my feet.

"GET OUT HERE!" I yelled through the shop. Rodney and Leon came downstairs, along with an old man.

"Chris, what are you yelling for…? Oh my god!" Rodney gasped as he took in my appearance, and then gaped when he saw the wound in C's chest.

"Dearie me…" the old man muttered. He waved his hands over C's chest a few times, muttering words. At the end, I heard the word "Curaga", and recognized the healing spell from Kingdom Hearts.

"Will he live?" I asked impatiently. My friend's life was on the line, and I wasn't sure if a simple Curaga spell would make him better.

"He must sleep for a few weeks. Then he will be as good as new." The man stood up. He cast a critical eye over my appearance. "I must say, you take a rather bloodthirsty approach to your new powers." He pointed to my chest. "Wearing the Heartless symbol in this town is considered a curse. You are lucky you didn't get a bit more violence from the people as you approached our house, Chris."

"… Merlin, right?" I asked. "This isn't my doing. I was in the middle of a fight with Juan, and this just happened."

"Wait, Juan's alive?" Rodney asked. "I thought he was-"

"He's NOT alive." I bristled. "Nobodies are not living beings, remember?" I sat down on the floor, exhausted. With that relaxation, the dark armor and blindfold fell from me, dissolving into the darkness from whence they came. "First the darkness, now Juan. How much more can we bear?"

Leon whistled. "I know it's never pretty when a friend betrays you. This guy, Juan, must be the same."

"He claims his name is Xanju, like he's part of the Organization now." I chuckled without mirth.

After a period of silence, Rodney spoke. "We met Donald and Goofy without you. They refused to take us all with them. They're only taking Ashley."

"Tell them …. To take…. Chris." A weak voice croaked. We all looked down, and saw C's eyes opened slightly. "He has… a… Key…" He fell back into sleep. "Key?" they all looked at me questioningly.

I sighed. "Yes, it's true. I can wield a Keyblade."

**Kind of confusing and emo… But who cares: Chris and Yuffie made out! And their friend Juan became a Nobody obsessed with revenge! And will Chris get to go with Ashley? And what does the future hold in store for Yuffie? Will C get better? And what will happen to Rodney: he's been kind of absent in the story! Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:_ Yuffie Stromwind_: Passion's Poisoned Shuriken

I walked through the darkened city, tears flowing from my eyes, mingling with the rain that was just beginning to fall, knowing that it would do no good. _Why… Why did I kiss him?_ I started running. Activity was good: it helped my body distract itself. _Why did I allow that to happen? Why the hell am I such a slut?! I don't want to hurt him. He's the only person I have ever seen who has looked at me like that. Most other people just see me for my body, and for my love of Materia, and for my greediness. They never realize that there's actually feelings behind these laughs that I send out so easily, and that my heart broke when I realized that I sold myself. I can't believe he actually wanted to kiss me. But it can never be. He's the best friend of that girl, Ashley. I have no chance to make him care for me in the way I want him to._ I slapped myself in the face, feeling the sting of my palm. I tripped on a loose stone, fell, cut my knee, and bent over. I licked some of the blood, tasting the tang of real blood, far different from Chris's sweet blood… I stood up, letting the rust colored liquid course down, and continued running.

_We've hardly even met, and already this is happening! _I dashed the rain from my eyes, to no avail. _I never thought this would ever happen! But the way he looked at me… His eyes… and then he had me taste his blood! Even though I'm pretty sure he didn't know what that meant… Oh god, what if he did? What if there's a video game detailing my life, and he's played it? God, he'll know what a terrible person I am, doing all those things. And what if…. What if he's fallen in love with me!? That would be the ultimate hurt for us both. I wish I could tell him how I feel about him, but I can't. Because of whom I am. I'm a b**** who can't even go a month without… Ergh! I know what I should do, but I don't think I can! The only way I can try and change-_

A group of Shadows jumped at me. With a quick flick, I hurled my giant shuriken at the dark beings, killing several of them. I caught it and continued running.

_-the only way I can try and change would make Johnson try and get revenge… and that is something I would not survive, me or Chris. Even if I used all the Materia I've hoarded he would easily overpower me. It's bad enough having to _pay _him in the way I must, but I was a stupid girl, and drunk besides, when I made that deal. Oh, what can I do?_

"What can I do…?" I moaned as I ran through the third district. I could feel the rainwater as it collected on the curve of my breasts, and then dripped between them, making me feel quite cold. For once, I wished I wasn't wearing what I was: a pair of white short-shorts, black boots reaching up to my knees, a cut off black sleeveless shirt that left my stomach exposed, and my dark grey and white armor on my chest. Something seemed missing…_ My headband!_ I reached up, and touched bare skin where the soft leather usually stayed.

"Lost something, have we?"

I whirled around, and saw a man in a white cloak with the hood down standing at the top of a set of stairs leading up to the top of an imposing house. He was the only man living in the third district. He leaned on a large, imposing, double ended katana sword. It coursed with dark energy.

"Good evening, my toy." Johnson spoke in that silky voice I hated so much. "Come to take your pick of the latest Materia?"

I forced myself up those steps, knowing that those words were my signal to enter, so that he could take whatever pleasure he would from my now unwilling mind, and more importantly, my body. I remembered how I had enjoyed the first time, how I had actually liked the animal who used me. But then he became the monster he now was, and I realized that more then I liked it, I hated him, and gradually, I hated it too, until hatred was all I felt when I was around him.

"Take three; leave me the one you don't want. I have plenty more." He held up his latest Materia: there were four stones: a red Phoenix summonstone, a green elemental Curaga stone, a blue All stone, and one stone that I had never seen before. It was gray, with a milky substance floating inside it.

"I'll just take the gray one." I snatched it. "You can have the rest."

He gave me a glare. "That was meant to be mine, toy!"

"Nevertheless, that's what I'll take for my payment." I growled. "And my name's YUFFIE."

"You push your luck, but I'll let you off easy. This Materia is one that has not yet been given a power: you can make it whatever you like, and they revert to this format every one hundred years. I had to search many different worlds for this. Wars were fought over a single stone of these in the old days. Wars that destroyed whole worlds. Just be glad that only three remain in existence: the one you're holding, one more I have, which is approaching its reversion mark, and one that I sold to a very insistent buyer. You better do it well." He grabbed my hair, and I resisted the urge to punch him in the face. "Because of its rarity, I think this particular Materia will do as payment for the next two months. What do you say, eh, my little… TOY?"

"Yes... master." I cried. Then he threw me to the bed, dropped his pants, and proceeded to extract his payment.

* * * * * *

After, I stood in the rain, blood coming from my nose where he had struck me, blood coming from my hand where he had twisted it, blood coming from my arm where he had stabbed it, blood coming from my stomach, where he had scratched me, blood coming from my knee, the cut reopened by Johnson's violence. I remembered the first time, when blood had been coming from between my legs. Now it didn't bleed anymore. Only a Curagala, a legendary healing spell which only the great Yen Sid had the power to cast, could restore my virtue there again. My tears of rage and sadness mingled with the rain, as I held the Materia in my hand, staring into its milky depths.

_I know what I will do now._ I had made up my mind during the hell that Johnson had been inflicting upon me. _This Materia will be given to the one I care about, as a sign of… of… _ My thoughts ended as I collapsed, crying. I scooted myself against the wall, leaning on it.

"Yuffie?" I looked up, and saw the object of my affection walk out of the shadows.

"Chris…" I made a vain effort to wipe away the blood.

"You're bleeding!" he cried, and rushed to my side, kneeling at my side. He removed his shirt, and began tearing strips from it.

"You don't need to do that!" I cried. "I have a cure Materia in my pocket."

"Why aren't you using it?" he was about to wrap the wound on my arm wound. I pulled the cure Materia from my pocket and saw a smear of blood on it. I rolled it against the wounds, and the blood and other wounds disappeared. However, when I rubbed it against the wound on my arm, nothing happened. It suddenly stopped glowing.

"I must have expended its power." I said, ashamedly. In truth, I had used it before leaving on my more major shoulder, back, and leg wounds.

"Then let me help." He was about to tie up the last wound when I stayed his arm. He looked up at me, confused. "What is it?"

I dipped my finger in my blood, and held it out to him. "Lick it."

He looked at me questioningly. "Why? I thought you said it was creepy."

"Please…" I groaned. "If we're friends, then please, do it." That made him turn quite serious, and he responded with equal seriousness.

"If you're sure, Yuffie." He leaned in and sucked the blood from my hand. The feel of his lips… his tongue... Then he tied up the wound in silence. "We are friends, Yuffie. Good friends. In fact, I would say you are one of my best friends." With those words, a great weight lifted from me, and I felt something inside me leap.

"Come on." He extended his hand down towards me.

"Let's get back to the shop. It's dangerous out here." I shivered. I tried to stand, but I couldn't. I fell back with a wet plop.

"It's been a whole day since you left." Chris said worriedly. "What were you doing all this time?" I shook my head.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"It's ok." He reached down, and lifted me in his arms. "Seems I'm carrying a lot of people these days." He recounted to me his fight with his friend, Juan, now Xanju, and told me how C had been injured.

"He'll be fine, but I'm afraid he'll have to stay here in Traverse Town for a few weeks."

"Wait, you mean you won't be staying here?" I was frantic. He seemed to sigh.

"I… I and Ashley have to go to other worlds. Two of the King's emissaries, Donald and Goofy, came for Ashley, to take her to lock the worlds. I'm supposed to go too, because they just found out that I can wield a dark keyblade, and I can fill in in case something happens to Ash." He shook his head as we approached the entrance to the shop. "I don't know what else."

"Wait." I stopped him before he could go into the shop. "I have something I want to give you." I pulled two Materia from my pocket. "Since you don't know any Cure spells yet, this Cure Materia should help you for a while. And this," I pointed to the gray Materia, "You can make into whatever Materia you want. Its quite rare, and I would like you to have it in memory of me."

"I'm already keeping your headband until I come back." He slid the Materia into his pocket. "This will help me too." He took out his chain. "Keep this." He clipped a heart shaped medallion onto it, and then hung the chain around my neck, like an oversized necklace. "I want you to remember me too."

We stood like that, our arms around each other. "I want to see you again." I said quietly.

"Me too, Yuffie." He whispered. We held each other in our arms, and I wished that we had a few more moments. But it was time for me to leave: if I stayed much longer, I wouldn't be able to heal the other, hidden wound, the one on my breast, with the Curaga Materia I had in my room in the attic of the Accessory Shop.

"When are you leaving?" I asked.

"Tomorrow morning." He said, a single tear running down his face. His emotions broke my heart. "I should probably go pack. They'll be here soon." He paused before entering the shop, and touched my face with his hand. His skin was soft, and his eyes were watery.

"Goodnight, Yuffie." He said, before he entered the shop, and I left to sneak into my room. When I got in, I stripped, and rolled the Curaga Materia against the wounds on the inside of my thigh, courtesy of Johnson's tearing fingernails. Then I lay down, and cried myself to sleep.

**Holy S***! Yuffie is in love with Chris? And what are Chris's feelings for her? And who is the mysterious animal Johnson? And what world will Chris and Ashley end up in? Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:_ Chris Talonflight_: Another World

"Damn!" I cursed, as my sword clanged on the floor. I had been practicing for an hour, after packing, and was still waiting for Leon to show up. I had to talk to him about something.

With a small effort of will, I unleashed a wave of dark energy. Then I sent it flying after a small shadow heartless. The heartless dodged and dashed, sliding with effortless ease. Then the wave dissipated, and the heartless ran up to me, nudging my leg.

"Nice work, Nudge." I patted my friend's head, before handing him a small piece of chocolate. For some reason, Nudge had a huge appetite for human food, although he didn't need it to live. He did, however, love chocolate.

"Let's work on our combo move." I suggested. Nudge ran forwards, unleashed some black lightning upon a moving cardboard figure, and I leaped under the deluge to slice at the figure. When I passed it, Nudge came by it in a flash, and used me as a rebound to knock the figure to the floor. I used my momentum, to keep moving and fire a bolt of black lightning at the downed target, and then rebounded off a wall and landed next to Nudge.

"Great!" I petted Nudge and fed him a piece of chocolate.

"You seem to be getting the knack of your powers." Leon was behind me, watching me practice.

"Maybe," I responded, dismissing Soul Eater, "but it's still a work in progress. It's one thing hitting a cardboard cutout and another thing hitting a heartless or a person."

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Leon asked.

I hesitated. "Can you promise me that whatever we say in here stays in this room?"

"Of course." Leon sat down on the bench. "Now tell me. I promise."

"Have you ever felt a deep pain for someone when you saw them unhappy, and when you saw them happy you felt something inside you leap for joy?"

"Yes." He said slowly. "A few times. Why do you ask?"

"Because that keeps on happening with me whenever I'm around a certain person." I clenched my fist. "Earlier today, I was in the third district, when I saw Yuffie sitting on the ground, crying, and with several cuts and wounds. I… talked to her, and she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. We healed her wounds, and then I carried her back to the shop. When I got here, she gave me a Cure Materia, as well as this." I held up the gray Materia.

"Yuffie gave you that?" Leon seemed amazed. "Yuffie? She's obsessed with Materia. I have never in my life ever seen her give up a Materia. In fact, she will go to any length to obtain Materia." He stared into its depth. "And the fact that she gave you this…" he looked at me. "Do you know what this is?"

"No." I admitted. "I never saw one like it in Final Fantasy VII, or in Advent Children."

"What's that?" Leon frowned.

"A video game that details the history of Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Vincent, Barret, and a few others, including Sephiroth." I glanced down. "Your history is in another game in the same series, Final Fantasy VIII."

"Strange…" he shrugged. "This Materia is an extremely rare and valuable one. Wars were fought over a single one of these stones, wars that nearly destroyed our worlds. Of course, that was before our universe combined into one world. I never did tell you that; did I?"

"I kind of guessed it." I admitted. "In the Final Fantasy series, you all lived on different planets. I found it slightly strange that you all lived on the same world in Kingdom Hearts. So I guessed that the combination must have happened: when the darkness separated the worlds, it accidentally fused your worlds together. Your world is Hollow Bastion, or, Radiant Garden."

"I see." He paused. "For Yuffie to give you this must mean you are someone special to her. Treat her well."

"We are good friends." I smiled at the memory. "Now, second question: what is the significance of blood in Yuffie's world?"

Leon thought on that a minute. "Its not so much a question of her world as much as it is a question of her hometown, Wutai. In that area, blood symbolizes bonding, and your soul. Yuffie once told me that if you take someone's blood that you care about, it can create a bond between you. The more potent the blood, the stronger the bond. Why?"

"Because," I said, "right before I carried her back, she made me taste her blood."

Leon started. "Yuffie had you taste her blood?!" He exhaled as I nodded. "I never thought… Wow… You're a lucky guy... never thought the Ninja Enchantress would fall for you… No offense, of course."

"And," I continued, "Yuffie tasted my blood. She said it was sweet, and it smelled like cinnamon, plus it doesn't look the right color. Look for yourself." I slit a tiny cut in my finger and squeezed out a drop of blood.

"You're right." He frowned. "Chris, I would advise you to be very careful."

"Why?" I was confused. I really did like Yuffie. "She's my friend!"

"Yuffie isn't exactly what I'd call a pure soul." He said slowly, as if searching for the right words. "Although she's your age, she can act a lot younger. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a passing craze. Just…Don't get your hopes up."

I sighed. Yuffie was all I had hoped she would be. In my mind, when I had played Final Fantasy VII, I hadn't seen Yuffie as the Materia-obsessed chick flick that most other guys saw her as. I had thought of the person who was most likely behind that persona, a person who was actually quite a sincere, caring person, just hiding behind a veneer in order to get through life. Yes, I know, I tend to over think on the wrong things and under think on everything else.

"I'll see." I responded. "Also, one last thing. Yuffie was injured when I found her. She had been gone all day. Do you have any idea what she was doing?"

Leon grimaced. "Unfortunately, she's in the habit of disappearing like that and reappearing later with a few injuries. It started a few months ago, and it hasn't changed since, unless you count the amount of injuries, which seem to be rising. I think she goes on a rampage in the fourth district, the underground, abandoned section of Traverse Town. There's only a little place down there that I go to myself, and then only to practice my fighting skills." He paused. "There are heartless down there that I've never seen before, and I've only ventured into the tunnels once before. I'm not ashamed to say, I'm never going down there again. But Yuffie… She throws herself into fights that she should never get into, and comes out injured. I hope she doesn't get herself killed." He sighed. "I hope you two work things out between you." He stood up. "And as to the color of your blood, it's probably the darkness." He paused, looking at me intently. "Say, you wouldn't be up for a quick match now, would you?"

"Yeah." I re-summoned Soul Eater. "Give me all you've got, Leon!"

We clashed; his gunblade against my Soul Eater. Leon pushed me back a few feet, before I did a back flip behind me. I landed, and fired a weak bolt of dark energy at him. He dodged it, and began firing blasts at me from his gunblade. I used the darkness to propel me through midair in a gliding move. Then I called on Nudge to throw me towards Leon. My ally did as required, as well as conjuring a dark shield around me when I landed behind Leon. Leon was distracted with fending off Nudge, and I took the opportunity to kick him down. However, Leon then summoned a circle of explosions around him, knocking Nudge into a wall. I then engaged him in a slashing duel for a few moments. Then, when I again locked blades with him, I summoned a storm of black electricity. The storm slammed into Leon, sending him flying.

"Not hurt, I hope?" I asked.

"Not a scratch!" Leon had deflected the brunt of the attack with more explosions. I growled. Nudge ran up to me and hopped on my shoulders. He swayed for a moment, and then seemed to fuse with me. As a result from the excess darkness, I went darkness-form: The name I had dubbed the form of me when I had the black fighting outfit with the Heartless symbol, as well as the blindfold. I summoned the second Soul-Eater, and faced off with Leon again.

"Chris." He went out of his battle stance. "I really don't think that-"

"Come on!" I retorted. "I need to know."

"All…. All right." Leon charged me. I deflected his gunblade with my two Soul Eaters. I launched myself into a karate kick, which missed, but I used my momentum to rebound off the wall and slam into the ground, creating a dark shockwave. The shockwave slammed into Leon, who recovered quickly, and fired a blast at me with his gunblade, knocking me from my feet. I rolled, and came up on Leon's left. I then sank into the ground, like a shadow heartless, and dashed around Leon. The wall of darkness I inscribed around him stayed there after I surfaced. Then I made the trap close in on him. However, when the wall exploded, Leon stood there, having used a Reflect spell at the last second. In anger, I slammed my swords together, and called on the power of Last Chaos, the dark keyblade. I flew at him. He tried to block my strike, but my animal strength broke his block, and pushed him back. He dodged and ran.

"Chris-"

I started spinning in a sawing motion, overcome with a peculiar bloodlust. But I couldn't kill Leon. He was my friend.

"Wait-"

I grabbed his blade with my darkness covered hand, and wrenched it away. It fell on the other side of the makeshift arena. I then kicked him in the stomach, hurling him to the ground. I reared back for the final blow-

A great weight struck me from behind. I fell over, my dark form falling away from me.

"What-" I groaned. Merlin walked up to me. With a flick of his fingers, he dismissed Leon, who seemed agitated.

"You seem to get carried away in combat." Merlin muttered. "That is not wise when you are fighting your ally."

"No kidding." I sat up, clutching my head. "It was as if I was suddenly overtaken by… something…"

"It was the Heartless." Merlin intoned. "Although Nudge is far more human then other Heartless, and although he means well, he still carries the dormant gene of heartless: the gene for violence. That gene began to manifest in you when you went into your dark form."

"No kidding?" I picked up Nudge, who was shivering, as if scared. "It's all right." I soothed my friend. "It's ok."

"You should keep a tighter leash on your darkness form from now on. It may be necessary to enter it at various points, but prolonged exposure could leave both of your minds at risk of becoming taken over, and then, your heart. You could both become a heartless in truth." He paused to pet Nudge. "I believe Nudge has just seen a side of him that he has never seen before. It has frightened him."

"Yeah." I held him. Then I remembered a question. "Hey Merlin, I have a question."

"Yes?" he intoned.

"I thought Yuffie's name was Yuffie Kisaragi. So why does her headband say Stromwind?"

"Oh, that?" Merlin shook his head. "Her last name _was_ Kisaragi, but after the Cataclysm she changed it to Stromwind. She claimed it seemed more appropriate."

"Why?" I asked, confused. "Kisaragi suits her."

"It had to do with who she was before." Merlin hesitated. "I do not know if I should be the one to tell you of this, but Yuffie wasn't always like this. Before the Cataclysm, she considered herself the most important person in life. She was rude, obnoxious, self-centered, conceited, and obsessed with Materia. When the Cataclysm happened, several of our friends died. There were two deaths that were especially hard on her: her friend Vincent, and a new friend Tidus, who she had met during the Cataclysm." Merlin sighed. "After that, she took one hard, long, look at herself, and she tried to change. She's come a long way, but there are still many who still see the old Yuffie in her. Changing her name was part of the process for her." Merlin smirked. "Although she seems to still harbor a craving for Materia."

"Maybe not." I drew out the Materia she had given me.

"Chris!" Merlin was flabbergasted. "Do you know what this is?!"

"Yeah: the rarest Materia in the worlds." I tapped my foot impatiently. "Worlds were destroyed for just one of these, yadda yadda yadda…" I wished people wouldn't repeat other people. "But you get my point. Maybe Yuffie is changing."

"Chris!" We were interrupted by Rodney calling fro the other room. "Donald and Goofy are ready to leave! Stop dragging your ass!"

"Coming!" I called. I wished Merlin goodbye, grabbed my small bag, now considerably smaller since it was missing the video games, and headed for the door. I tossed the bag to Rodney.

"It's really too bad you aren't coming with us." I felt bad for Rodney, since although it wasn't that fun to fight, I had the feeling that Rodney thought he was missing out on the action, since he had yet to test his powers in a combat situation. "I hope your doing well with your powers."

Rodney grinned. "Well, at least I get to stay here and hit on anime characters!"

"Plus you'll be with your boyfriend!" I needled him. At home, we had always made jokes about how Rodney and C were always hanging out together, to the point that it was like they were a married couple.

"Cut that out!" Rodney grumbled.

"Heh." I chuckled. "Rodney, Just one thing about hitting on anime characters…"

"What?"

"… Never mind." I shouldn't tell him about me and Yuffie.

I walked out to say hi to Donald and Goofy. As much as I wanted to be friends with them, I was never at ease with them. Probably due to the fact that they were a duck and a dog.

"Chris?"

I turned. There, behind me, was Yuffie. I had been privately dreading this moment, partly because I expected her to say something like "it wouldn't work out between us" , and partly because I didn't want to be away from her, but knew I had to.

"Can I…" Yuffie seemed to be searching for the right words. "…talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure." I said nervously. We walked behind the shop, and were completely alone. She took out a small knife.

"Hold out your hand." She instructed. She then made a small slit in her hand.

"Yuffie!" I said, startled. "Don't cut yourself!" _WHY IS SHE BEING EMO?!?!?!?!_

"Just trust me." She said gently. Taking my hand in hers, she made a tiny slit in in, and allowed the blood to rise up. She then pressed her bleeding cut against my bleeding cut, and allowed our blood to mingle in us both. The rush of strangeness and wonderment upon me was as great as the ecstasy.

"Yuffie…" I whispered.

"Mm?" she responded.

"I wanted to say… I mean…. It's just…" I could feel myself blushing. "It's… I really care about you... and… I think I…" Her eyes widened. "I lo-"

"HEY CHRIS! GET OVER HERE!" I was interrupted.

"I'll tell you when I come back." I promised.

"But wait!" she cried, clutching my arm. "What if you don't come back?! What if I never see you again?"

"I'll come back." I promised. "I'll always come back for you." With that I kissed her forehead and walked into the Gummi Ship, and was carried away into the sky. I looked out the window once, and saw Yuffie looking up at me.

I would come back. Just for her.

As I settled in my seat, one thought entered my mind: _Kissing on the forehead is SO overrated._ I did a face palm.

* * * * * * *

"I have no idea which world this is." I said, throwing up my hands. "I know every other world by heart, but not this." **(Cue music "End of the World" from the Kingdom Hearts original soundtrack)**

We were standing on the top of a castle, which I had first guessed to be Beasts Castle, until I remembered that Beast's Castle wasn't in Kingdom Hearts 1.

"This looks like a way down." I pointed towards a hole in the ground. I slid into it, hanging from Goofy's hand.

"Be careful, Chris!" Donald squawked. "There could be Heartless!"

"Its all right: I can reach the floor from here!" I called, opening a dark portal right below me that would let me out on the floor. "Let me go!"

I fell through the portal, and landed on the floor. There were no Heartless, and the place smelled like death itself. "Come on down." I called. "It smells but its safe." I looked at our surroundings. There was clouds of drifting sand at ground level, and there as a single set of human footprints, and many footprints of something much, much, different.

"I think we should follow these footprints." Ashley bent over them. "At least a human is better then whatever made the other prints.

"Heartless, you think?" Goofy asked. "Could be."

"Maybe one of the Heartless that are unique to this world." I frowned. "Come on. Something about this place doesn't feel right. I've never seen it in the game, but it feels too familiar."

We walked down many flights of stairs, so many that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that we were now underground, especially when we stopped seeing windows, and were crossing a darkened storeroom when I heard the sound of growling. The sound was guttural, as if from a throat that was both human and not human. I froze, as did the rest of the group. Then the noise stopped.

"Keep your eyes out." I instructed. I had somehow become leader of the group, since I knew more about the worlds then anyone else. Nudge cowered next to me. It was odd, seeing my little friend afraid. He had always been a pillar of courage in dangerous situations, but here he was… _scared._

"Watch your backs." I summoned Soul Eater as we walked out of the courtyard and into a room filled with pillars. There was a symbol on the wall that was so familiar it hurt, but I just couldn't remember… what was this place?

There was more growling from up ahead. I called my second Soul Eater, but refrained from entering darkness from. With a growing sense of dread, I walked silently to the door, motioned my friends to stay back, and in one swift movement opened the door and threw a bolt of darkness into the room where the growling was issuing from. There was a loud roar, then silence, and then the sound in something dragging. There was a barely noticeable yellow flash in the darkness of the room, its torches having been blown out by the dark energy I had channeled into the room. Then I saw a pair of gleaming yellow eves. But they were the wrong shape for Heartless. Then there was another pair of eyes, and another, and more until there were ten pairs of eyes of sin that terrible darkness. A waft of air from the room carried the smell of death. I backed up. _Those eyes… the sand… the smell of death…_ there was a clank of heavy weaponry and armor. _Oh god… _I was filled with terror that surpassed me. _These things…_ I saw a hand enter the light first. Its skin was mottled gray and black, and it was a hideous mockery of a human hand, with animal claws and ugly bones. Gripped in its hands was a terrible lance.

_Pnnnnss…._ The creature growled…. _Prnnnnnnssss…._

"What are they saying?!" I cried as I backed away into the center of the room.

_Prinnnnnnssss….. _The creature seemed to be trying to say something. _Priiiinnnnnssss…_

Suddenly, it _clicked._ The creatures, the sand, the empty castle, the single set of human footprints. And I knew what the creature was saying.

_Prrrrriiiiinnnnnceeeee…._

_ Prince._

We had reached the world of the Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time, first video game, when everyone in the huge fortress had been transformed into these demons. However, it was not a part of the Kingdom Hearts universe, although I had added it in many of my fan-fictions. So why was it here?

"Sand Creatures." I said; my mouth was dry from fear. "Neither living nor dead. Incapable of feelings or speech, they are driven by the desire to hunt down and kill anything living. I turned to my friends. "Running won't be much use. These guys can teleport, even if they run at the speed of glue. Somehow, we've got to get away!"

"Why not kill the bastards?" Ashley hissed. "We have our weapons!"

"Only one weapon can destroy these things." I said, wanting to pee in my pants. "The Dagger of Time, Prince's weapon!"

"… which, we don't have!" Goofy got out his shield. "Welp, we'll just have to make the best of it!"

"Our weapons can hurt it…" I said, as I looked at Soul Eater. "Maybe the Keyblade can kill them because of its power. But Donald, me and Goofy..."

"Chris, you can wield a Keyblade!" Donald reprimanded as the Sand Creatures closed in on us. "Do something!"

I grimaced, and fired a bolt of dark energy into the pack of monsters around us. I then manipulated it so that it formed a safe passageway of darkness between the ranks of Sand Creatures. _Whew, didn't know if that would work! Well, there's a first time for everything!_

"I'm not going dark from unless there's no other option." I muttered. "Come on." I started jogging down the path of Darkness. The creatures couldn't pass the walls of pure blackness, but they could follow our essence. They continued following us as we continued through the castle.

"Look!" Donald pointed to a door way. There were sounds of battle coming from inside there. I quickened my pace into a full out sprint.

"Prince is in there!" I shouted. "Come on!" I summoned both my Soul Eaters, and ran into the room. Inside, a lone young man with a goatee, bare-chested, wielding a deadly sword and a mysterious dagger, and with dangerous eyes, was engaging a group of Sand Creatures in combat.

_Sand Creatures… cool name, but inept. They're zombies. Sure, they _CALL _them sand creatures, but it's just a Persian zombie._

I spun in a circle, unleashing dark energy in a wave that gave the Prince a bit of space, in which I landed back to back with him.

"Need help?" I asked sarcastically, knowing what the answer would be.

"Help wouldn't be so bad." Prince muttered as he slashed into one of the monsters with his dagger, absorbing its sand. I pulled him back towards me.

"Wait here." I instructed him. Then I raised my hands, and black tendrils of darkness flew up fro the ground and gripped each sand monster in an iron grip. Of course, a few on the smarter ones simply teleported out of the maneuver, but most of them stayed put. The ones that escaped were set upon by Ashley, Goofy, Donald, and the Prince. Before long, the last of the monsters evaporated into sand.

"Who are you?" the Prince asked. I stuck out my hand.

"My name's Chris." I said, dismissing my weapons. "The duck is Donald, the girl is Ashley, and the dog is Goofy."

"Hey!" Donald squawked. "We aren't just animals!"

"I am the Prince of Persia." Prince said, shaking my hand. "These things…" he trailed off, as if in a loss to explain.

"Its all right Prince." I said. "We know what you are trying to do."

"Yeah, you've gotta find the hourglass and make this stuff right!" Goofy chuckled.

"I see." The Prince muttered. He seemed thoughtful. "Will you help me or hinder me?"

"Help you, of course!" I said. I looked around. "This place was quite beautiful before it was… well, you know." I sighed. "One thing though: where's Farah?"

"Farah?" Prince looked up sharply. "You know her?"

"Uh, yah." I nodded. "Although she probably doesn't remember me." Another lie, but it was useful…

"Farah," he pointed up, "is at the top of that." I looked up and saw the opening of a well. I realized that we were underground, in a place that looked like a torture chamber. _Ahh… I remember this level… _Nudge began squeaking excitedly, and Prince drew back his sword to strike.

"Those things!" he yelled. "They are here too! They tried to kill me back at the reservoir."

"No!" I cried and blocked his strike. "I know it's hard to explain, but this one isn't like the others. He saved me from several of his own kind, and kills them when he can!"

"… Hmph…" Prince muttered, and lowered his blade. "You are lucky that you stopped me before I pressed the button." He flipped the dagger towards me. "This dagger-"

"I know what it is." I interrupted. "I have no wish to dwell on it. Its nothing but trouble." I handed it back to him. "I can get us up the well easy enough, but when we get there, we will have to fight more of these creatures." I opened a dark portal to the top of the well. "Shall we?"

We walked through, and out into the sunlight. I was surprised by how far we were along in events. Prince had just escaped the dungeons with our help, had already fallen in love with Farah, and was about to ascend the Great Elevator, where we would encounter the greatest fight in the entire quest. Just my luck…

Farah was being attacked by several Sand Creatures that I had dubbed Big Swords at the far end of the field. I sent my dark tentacles out to meet them. I smiled as they gripped, lifted, and hurled the Sand Monsters down into the abyss that lurked below the bridge to the Tower of Dawn and the Great Elevator. A fall that never ended would ensure that they never troubled the world again, even if they weren't dead.

"Well, that was easy." I muttered to myself, and strode across the field with Prince and the rest of the group to meet Farah.

"Are you all right?" Farah asked Prince. The look of love on their faces was touching. However, the fact that I knew that Farah would eventually betray Prince left a sour taste in my mouth. However, we needed her: for now. We weren't allowed to interfere with the timeline that was set: Farah would betray Prince, and then Prince would find the All-Blade, and avenge Farah's death, and kill the Vizier. Or were we? Maybe we could shorten the journey… after all; Sora interfered with world order in Wonderland, and several other places…

"I'm all right." Prince smiled at her. He then walked up to the pillar of sand that was rotating nearby, and stepped into it. I saw the expression of worry on Farah's face, and tried to comfort her.

"It's all right, Farah." I said in what I hoped was a soothing voice. "Prince isn't in any danger from the sands. They bend to his will, and they can't hurt him in that way." Farah looked at me like I was a weird bug.

"How do you know about him?!" she accused. "You walk with a Heartless! Why should I trust you?"

"Because he saved Prince's life." Ashley came to my defense, putting a hand on my shoulder. "He's a good friend, and a terrible enemy! If he wished you harm, he could have easily destroyed you both by now! He has that great of a power! It's only because of the fact that we need each other to survive that I haven't slapped you for saying that! B****!" **(A little harsh?)**

"You little-" Farah stopped herself, and instead walked away. She went to Prince's unconscious form, and cradled his head in her lap, stroking his hair, waiting for him to awake. I sat down, Nudge sitting on my shoulder, Ashley beside me, and Donald and Goofy in front of us.

"Why do I get the feeling that I missed something in that little catfight?" I asked Ashley. She shook her head despairingly.

"Men… they never get it." She sighed in frustration. "Farah probably thinks that I'm a potential rival for Prince, and thinks that I'm going to steal him away. And Nudge doesn't help." She patted Nudge as he looked downcast. "Its okay though: we know your really nice." She petted him, and Nudge traded spots for Ashley's lap as she caressed him. "Farah is too stupid to notice that I don't know Prince, and the only person I would even be remotely interested in here-" she stopped herself, and looked behind me, and flicked out her keyblade. It took the head off of a heartless.

"Stay with Prince!" I called to Farah, who looked up in alarm. "We'll take care of these!"

We spread out around Farah and the still unconscious Prince, in a poise for combat. I then called up a wave of darkness to push the heartless back. It had the desired effect, and I and Nudge ran into the group, doing our combination move. However, the Heartless suddenly swarmed, and combined together to form a giant Heartless.

_A pureblood heartless! _I thought frantically. It had become a Darkside. Ashley ran at it, but was swatted away by it's massive hands. Donald and Goofy suffered the same fate. _Huh. Serves them right. They don't know how it moves. I however, have played KH1 a million times…_

Nudge ran forwards, unleashed some black lightning upon the giant heartless, and I leaped under the deluge to slice at the figure. When I passed it, Nudge came by it in a flash, and used me as a rebound to the eye of the Darkside. I used my momentum, to keep moving and fire a bolt of black lightning at the target, and then rebounded off a wall and landed next to Nudge. Nudge then charged a ball of pure dark energy above it, channeling all his power into the huge ball. I then stood behind it, added a bit of my own power, and blasted it forwards in a deadly ramming move. It completely obliterated the legs of the creature, and the Darkside pitched forwards. I then took that opportunity to stab it's head with my Soul Eater. _One giant Heartless down… any amount to go._ I dismissed my weapons, and took out the Cure Materia. I rolled it on Ashley's forehead, and she came awake with a flutter. I then realized I was bending over her, as if about to kiss her. I stood abruptly. _Why is she looking at me like that?_

"Ugh… what happened?" Prince came awake. Then he noticed where he was, and leaped back from Farah.

"Its all right." Farah soothed. "Its me… Its me." She placed her hand on Princes cheek.

The Prince seemed to recover his composure. After the usual explanations of events, we started walking towards the Elevator. There was a small fight with a group of Heartless/Sand infected birds, but we got through all right.

"Be careful!" Prince called to Farah as she pulled a lever that turned on the elevator.

"Why?" she laughed. "Not everything is a trap, you know."

We entered the elevator, and began ascending. I nodded to my friends, and we took up combat positions.

"What are you doing?" Prince asked. I merely told his to draw his sword.

Many sand creatures appeared around us, some of them also bearing Heartless traits. _Well, it seems that some Sand Creatures can become infested with darkness too._

"Like Farah said." I said sarcastically, as I went back-to-back with Prince in the center of the gigantic elevator, "not _everything _is a trap."

**Well that was epic… no one guessed that the prince of Persia would come into this! Oh well, its still pretty epic. Plus... well… whatever… Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:_ Rodney Castro_: Darkness of the Unknown

The process of staying alive in the fourth district was not easy.

I had been fighting my way through the underground section of Traverse Town, hoping to find the Ultima Weapon. There was a hidden way you could get it here in the game, where there was a room which contained all the materials needed to synthesize the ultimate weapon. It wasn't known except to a few who specialize in finding all the cheats and hacks. I was searching for it. Heck, even the entrance was hidden in the area where Leon usually practiced, and in the game you needed a code to find it!

Barret accompanied me. His gun-arm was blazing at the heartless that inhabited the tunnels. The spreader he had was useful. I was in the process of sending bolts of lightning down the tunnel, and erecting a Lightning Gate. Lightning Gates, I had learned, were effective enough to let through humans but not Heartless. I connected them to the power outlets that were scattered randomly around the area.

"Is that it for this section?" I asked the big, dark skinned man. Barret grunted.

"Yeah, except for the Ward area." He said, his deep voice rebounding off the walls. "But we don't need to go there." He grunted. "The next area is the deepest one, then we start going back up again to emerge in the destroyed fifth district. Isn't that right, Yuffie?"

The ninja had been increasingly quiet since our friends had left. What had happened to the rude, obnoxious, flirty, sex pistol that had nearly seduced Cloud? Oh yeah, I forgot: this was before the events in _Dirge of Cerberus_, and she's still eighteen, so she hadn't seduced anyone yet… But still, where was the flirt, the rudeness, and the tomboy-ness?

"Yes Barret." Yuffie said, nearly whispering. "We go down from here."

We started walking down the slope. There was a scratching sound. It seemed to come from all sides. In an instant, a saw a scythe knock Barret from my side, a double ended katana knock Yuffie into wall, and a Heartless grab me and lift me, pinning my arms to my sides. **(Cue song "Darkness of the Unknown" from Kingdom Hearts II Soundtrack)**

"Well." The figure hovering in front of the large heartless stated. "What have we here?"

My jaw dropped.

"Juan?" I asked.

Juan hovered with his arms folded, the Guardian Heartless that Ansem from Kingdom Hearts wielded hovering behind him, its body seeming to be attached by thin strands of darkness to Juan's hair.

"Well, someone has come a long way."

I turned my head to confront the who had knocked out Barret, and saw another Juan. But this one had white eyes while the first one had yellow eyes. In that instant I knew what I was seeing

"Never thought a Heartless and a Nobody would ever cooperate." I retorted.

"Really?" The Heartless Juan asked. "What do you say, Xanju?"

"I think it's a damned shame. His heart is so strong… but it is necessary." The Nobody Juan, or Xanju, as he seemed to name himself, responded, twirling a scythe.

"What are you doing?" I asked, afraid. The man in the white kimono stepped forwards, holding his double ended dark katana.

"It's quite simple." He twitched his weapon, and a beam of gold and black shot out. _Molten dark gold?! Who the heck is this guy?!_

"We're turning you…" he said, with a smile of evident satisfaction on his face, "… into an experiment!"

With that, I unleashed a wave of electricity, and spun out of the enemy's grip, landing with my weapons drawn. "Come on!" I yelled.

I slammed both of my weapons together and they combined to form an awesome sword, which I raised to the sky. Despite being underground, huge bolts of lightning slammed into the opposing trio, and I took a few seconds to cast Cure on Barret and Yuffie.

"Johnson!" Yuffie yelled. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Just keep your mouth shut, b****." The man in the kimono snarled. He then twitched his weapon, and the swirling black gold swept Yuffie away down the tunnel, calling after her: "Make sure you give my regards to hell!"

Barret stood up. "Nice work, now die!" He grinned, and started to bring his gun arm into firing position.

"Unfortunately, you are not part of this arrangement." The man in the white kimono said coolly. He nodded to Xanju, who ran Barret through from behind. Barret's shock and surprise were evident. The man in the white kimono stabbed his weapon into Barret's face. Barret turned into a gold statue, a picture of agony and betrayal.

"You bastard!" I hissed. I sent another storm of lightning down into the midst of my enemies, before running back the way I came.

_Gotta keep ahead…_ I came to a turn. _Wait, this turn wasn't here before… _Ignoring my sense of direction, I kept on running. The tunnel seemed different now. _Shouldn't I be at the Lightning Gate now?_

"Going somewhere?" Juan appeared in front of me, his Heartless Guardian blocking the way._ They changed the tunnels!_ I turned to double back, but found Xanju there. _If that's the way they want to play it._ I thought grimly. I spun, sending out a shockwave of electricity. Then I sliced Juan from my way.

"Get out of here, you Ansem wannabe!" I yelled as I passed him. "Get a haircut!"

I sprinted down the corridor. I sent blasts of lightning behind me periodically in order to slow down any pursuit-

A blade emerged from my chest. I felt it lift me, and I saw darkness spring from it and cover me.

"Now become what everyone is destined to one day become!" the man in the white kimono whispered. "All worlds begin in darkness. And all so end. The Heart is no different. You see, Darkness is the Heart's true essence."

"You're wrong!" I yelled with the last of my strength. "The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may give in… but deep inside... There's a light… that… never… go…es… out… and for your… information… Kingdom Hearts… is… is…"

Then I was overcome, and I fell deep into Oblivion.

**Oh death, where is thy victory… this chapter made me cry when I re-read it, cuz everything seems about to go terribly wrong! Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:_ Yuffie Stromwind_: Deathbeds

I was washed away in a gold-colored flood.

"Rodney!" I yelled as I was dragged deeper into the Fourth District.

"Give my regards to hell!" was all I got in response.

I let myself be washed away, hot tears of shame trickling down my face. _Oh my god… I will never be able to forgive myself for this…_ Then my head hit a rock and everything went dim…

I didn't know how long I stayed there, unconscious and limp, but when my eyes opened I was in the shadows of the abandoned Fifth District.

_I have to get to Leon and the others… I have to tell them… even if it kills me!_ I thought frantically. I was torn up and bloody. I pulled my Cura Materia from my pocket and rubbed it all over me. It healed most of the wounds, but it couldn't do anything about my exhaustion.

I ran, forcing my tired muscles onward. _I've got to go on.. I must… _I felt a metallic clank as something knocked against my breasts. I looked down, and saw the Heart medallion Chris had given me. Seeing it brought new strength to me.

It was hours later that I finally reached Leon. "Leon… Xanju, and a Heartless, and Johnson…" I didn't know how to start.

"Wait, what?" he was confused.

"Barret… dead…" I gasped. "Rodney… captured…. Three men… one nobody… one heartless… one… I don't… know what……" I collapsed. "I think…. After…. Chris… and…. C….. And…" Blackness took me.

* * * * * * * * *

I awoke in the bedroom, an IV drip attached to my arm. I sat up. I looked next to me, looking for the source of the beautiful music that I could hear.

"So, you're awake." C was strumming his water guitar. There was a bowl of water in front of him, and as he played, a figurine appeared in the water and began dancing. "I was wondering when you would return to the land of the living."

"Yeah?" I asked. "My head feels numb. What happened?"

"You got here half collapsed." C said cheerfully. "Said that Rodney had been captured, Barret had been killed, and that you had been left for dead."

"No kidding." I ripped the IV needle from my arm. There was no blood. "Where's Leon?"

"Looking for the guys with Aerith, Tifa, and Cid." C replied. He seemed subdued. "I've been wondering about that medallion you wear. Where did you get it?"

"I… I looked at the heart. "… Chris gave this to me."

"He's something pretty special to you, isn't he?" C asked.

"Special isn't the word." I sighed. "He's…" I looked sharply at C. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes." C responded.

"I think… I think I'm in love…" I admitted. "But… I keep on fearing that I'll never see him again! To think it's only been ten days… it seems a lot longer then that!"

"Eleven days now." C continues strumming.

"Whatever." I waved him off. "But still. I feel… like he's so much more then I ever could deserve. He's what I've always dreamed of. Most people only see the annoying, rude, conceited side of me. They never realize that I do have feelings and hopes, and dreams."

"People must think nicer of you then that." C pointed out.

"Please." I waved that off. "When they think of me, they remember to make sure their Materia is where they left it." I got up. "I can't stay here all day. I have to get out. You coming?"

"Where?" he asked cautiously.

"Bar." I said guiltily.

"Coming." He dismissed his instrument in a flash of water.

"You guys have come a long way with using your powers." I remarked.

"You should have seen Chris." C smiled. "He beat Leon."

"Leon?" I was surprised. "Tell me about it…"

We began walking to the bar like old friends.

**Hmm… I wonder… I still get the feeling that this chapter is pointless filler, but correct me if I'm wrong… review…**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:_ Chris Talonflight_: Revival and Departure

I leaned on my sword. The Elevator fight had taken a lot of my energy.

"Hurry!" Farah called, as we crowded onto the small lift. Hopefully, we could get the Prince to rewind time now, and not have Farah die, and not have to stay here extra time. I had begun to ardently hate Sand Monsters.

We reached the Hourglass room. Even though I had seen it in the video games, in real life it was impressive.

"Get on top of the hourglass!" Farah instructed. I solved the problem by creating a dark portal, and sending Prince through it. Right before Prince slid the Dagger into the top of the hourglass, he stopped.

"My father's army sacked your palace." He addressed himself to Farah. "We ruined your world. You have every reason to hate me. And now you want me to trust you?"

_Must we do this NOW?_ I put my hand to my head. "Prince, there's no time!" I pointed to a hunched over figure. "The Vizier is here!"

"_Alamance Valhi… VALHI…!" _the old man cried. A blast of sand came flying at us. I leaped in front of the sandstorm and countered it with a storm of darkness.

"Hurry!" I yelled. _If it wasn't for me, this would never happen. The Prince would have been swept away, and Farah would have betrayed him, and she would have died. The prince would have eventually undid what he had done, but at the cost of his love. Heck, he still loses his girlfriend, because when he rewinds time, she'll forget this too. And what the hell, the heartless might overcome him, since they aren't in the original game!_

I didn't think I could hold out much longer. _What sorcery is this?_ I wondered.

Then the Prince slammed the Dagger of Time into the correct slot, and I watched as time rewound.

I saw all the events that had passed fly by in rewind, until the room was deserted except for me, Nudge, Ashley, Donald, and Goofy. The Hourglass was no longer there.

"Come." I beckoned. I created a dark portal. This one would lead us to the place where the Prince would meet Farah again.

We emerged through, and I nearly ran into Prince.

"How you doing?" I asked. "It is a quite amazing sight to see time rewind before your very eyes."

The Prince stared. "How are you not affected by the time change?"

"We are not of this world." I explained. "You probably shouldn't ask further. The story is complicated."

"You don't say…" he looked disturbed. "Whatever. I go to see Farah. Will you come?"

"I can even shorten the trip." I created a dark portal. "I seem to be getting a lot of practice with this move recently."

When we arrived in Farah's room, the Prince awoke her.

"Who are you?" Farah asked in a breathless voice. It pained me to see the love of the Prince not even recognize him.

"Some people say time is like a river, which flows swift and sure in one direction." The Prince began his story. "But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you, they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am, and why I say this. Sit down, and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard…" I enjoyed hearing the famous lines repeated by the one meant to say them. Prince related the entire tale. I was so engrossed in the story, that I did not notice that it was starting to get light outside.

"… And that is why I urge you to arrest this traitorous Vizier, before he betrays you, and brings ruin on us all." The Prince concluded his Tale.

"Well, Vizier, since you have been standing behind the curtain this whole time, why don't you give us your opinion?" I turned towards the man behind us.

"How inventive! I have a simpler version." The Vizier snarled. "A young Prince, lusting for glory, enters the chambers of the maharajah's daughter, and was slain by me."** (Cue Vizier Battle Theme from Prince of Persia Sands of Time)**

I glanced at prince. "Hey man, this is your fight. I know better then to get in the way of your retribution."

The prince nodded his thanks, and drew his sword, and the dagger of time.

"Your majesty, for your own safety, I suggest you flee." The Vizier intoned. Then he created a shield around himself, and a clone of himself emerged, wielding his staff. A group of Shadow Heartless appeared around me and my friends. I looked at Prince.

"You take on the Vizier." I smirked. "We'll defend the princess from the Heartless!" The Prince nodded his thanks yet again, and moved into battle. I merely summoned a shockwave of darkness, obliterating the Heartless, and leaving me free to watch the epic battle. Shadows were weaklings. Besides Nudge.

"Vizier, stop this at once!" Farah ordered.

"Your majesty, he came here to abduct you!" the Vizier responded. To the prince he spoke next. " Your father was an honorable warrior in his youth. A pity his son does not take after him." The Prince did not delegate to respond.

"Then again, perhaps father and son are alike..." The Vizier grew a malicious grin, as his clone worked Prince into a corner. However, the Prince vaulted over his opponent, scoring two hits on its ethereal flesh, downing it. "… It appears both have a taste for bloodshed."

"Let him be brought before my father, and he will judge." Farah ordered.

"I highly doubt the king will be interested in this petty matter." The Vizier dodged the next hit, and summoned a second clone. "Although it is your safety, he is only one man."

Farah lost her patience. "Vizier, I gave you an order. Do you disobey?" she was serious.

The Vizier too lost his patience. "I have taken orders from a young whore and a senile excuse for a sniveling rat long enough!" he roared as the Prince defeated yet another clone. He summoned a third. "You both thought you were so clever to run the kingdom! But I will surpass you both!" he cried. To the Prince he said the next lines: "Do you have any last words to convey to the princess, before I kill her? Words of love, perhaps?"

The battle between the Prince and Vizier was epic to watch. I was enthralled at the vision of a real man doing the acrobatics and fighting moves that the Prince pulled off. Then the Clone disappeared beneath the last blow of the Prince's sword, and the Prince ran the Vizier through with the Dagger of Time, and ended the battle.

"I could have been…" the Vizier gasped with his dying breath, "…Immortal!" then he collapsed.

"So its true, he really was a traitor!" Farah gasped.

"Return this to your father's treasure vaults." The Prince held out the dagger to the princess. "Guard it well."

"Thank you. I owe you much thanks. But why did you come up with such a fantastic story?" Farah asked. "Do you think me- MMPH!" the Prince had interrupted her with a kiss, which ended when Farah pushed him away.

"I said I owe you thanks!" she scolded. "You presume too much!" The Prince smiled, pressed a button on the dagger's handle, and we rewound time to the second before the kiss.

"-Why did you come up with such a fantastic story?" Farah asked. "Do you think me a child, that I would believe such nonsense?"

"Your right." The prince said, handing the dagger to her with a sad smile. "It was just a story." He then ran towards the edge of the balcony, and grabbed a tree, ready to slide down, and disappear into the forest.

"Wait!" Farah cried. "You've done much for me, yet I don't even know your name!"

The Prince smiled at that. "Just call me… Kakulukia." Then he slid down and disappeared into the trees.

"My god…" Farah gasped, as she recognized the word. Then she turned to me and my group. "And who are you?"

I smiled. "We… are just a passing breeze…" I nodded to Ashley, who summoned her keyblade, and fired a ray of light into a keyhole-shaped hole in the Dagger of Time itself. _The keyhole of this world… in such a small weapon… No wonder there were Heartless coming after Prince._ The world's heart locked, we were beamed up to the Gummi Ship, and set off for the other worlds.

**Ok, come on. That was so cool! Chris is a G. And wouldn't it really be cool to see time rewind before your very eyes? Review!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:_ ?????? ??????_: Reverse Rebirth

_It's so dark… So cold…. So…. So…. So….so very dark… but its not scary… its… comforting._

_ Where did I get the idea that darkness was scary?_

_ Where am I?_

_ What am I?_

_Who am I?_

_ What's my name?_

_ R… something with an R…_

_ Rod… Rod something…_

_ "_But you are no longer that person."

_ Who… Who's there?_

_ "_Awake."

_Who said that?_

"I did."

_Who are you?_

"Your protector. Your weapon. Your guardian"

_What is your name?_

"They called me Thunderedge."

_What are you?_

"Awake, and you will see."

_I do not want to awake. The dark is comforting._

"Lies. You do not want anything. You are incapable of emotion, Hybrid."

I sat up. It was still dark. I put my hand out, and it closed around the hilt of a sword. I felt the edge. It seemed to be two swords combined into one fearsome weapon. I discovered all this by feel. I tried to touch my eyes, but instead touched a cloth band. A blindfold. I did not take it off. I could sense all movement around me anyway. "Where am I?" I asked out loud.

_It is time to awaken you._

"Who am I?" I asked.

_You were once a mighty warrior. You were a Zeus. Your prowess was unmatchable. But you are no longer that person._

"What was my name?"

_You are no longer that person._

"What is my name now?" I was confused, and yet I understood.

_You are Hybrid. The Storm's Accomplice. Your greatest pleasure is to obey the will of the one who has rebirthed you._

"And who has rebirthed me?" I asked, at peace.

"It is the Lord of Silence, the Ruler of the Abyss, and the Wielder of Supreme Darkness. The most common word used to refer to him in the language of man is Johnson."

**Oooh… creepy! Who is the mysterious person who is here? And what is Thunderedge? Meet Johnson's new pet! Review!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:_ Chris Talonflight_: Several worlds later…

"Its nice, this world is." Donald commented.

"Olympus Coliseum is always nice." I gave him a bloodthirsty grin. This was our sixth world so far, and it had taken only three weeks. The only worlds left were Neverland and Hollow Bastion. "We get to fight Cloud here, and turn him from Hade's plot. As well as fight Hercules and others! ISNT IT JUST GRAND?!"

"Hehehehehe." Ashley giggled, before it turned into all out laughter, and Ashley fell on Donald.

"Ow." I said, before laughing again. "Come on. I'll get us into the tourney."

We entered the huge arena, and I checked around for Phil. He was talking to a man that seemed familiar.

"Frostmourne!" I yelled excitedly "Wassup?"

"Hey." He seemed friendlier this time. "How's it going?" Phil exited quietly.

"Its ok." I twirled Soul Eater absently. I had felt more at home with my powers recently. "And you?"

"Life is life." He grunted. "You're entering the Hercules cup?"

"You bet!" I smirked. "I plan on beating Cloud, you, and even Hercules!"

The big veteran smiled a ferocious smile. "You'll have to do better then that, if you want to beat me!"

"And we're all entering separately, so that we all have a chance at the title!" Donald bragged.

"No offense, but I really don't think Donald is going to make it!" I fake-whispered to Frostmourne.

"Hey!" Donald squawked.

"Hick hick!" Goofy laughed. "It's been quite a while since we've seen you on an assignment Frostmourne. What did the King send you on this time?"

"Wait, you're an agent of the King?" I asked. "Do you know where he is?"

"He's trying to stop someone from gaining control of a dangerous place. That's all he told me." Frostmourne growled.

"Kingdom Hearts." I whispered. "He's in Kingdom Hearts."

"What!?" everyone except Ashley gasped.

I put my hand to my head. "Ok, there's this thing called a video game, okay…" I then proceeded with the explanation of the fact that Tetsuya had seeded his prophecies in several video games spanning several years, and that now they were coming true.

"Weird. Whatever." Frostmourne shrugged. He hesitated before continuing. "Since you know about the King, and you know about everything that's supposed to happen, I might as well tell you my full name. Its David Frostmourne."

"Cool." I shook his hand again.

**I still get the pointless filler feeling… review…**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:_ David Frostmourne_: Opportunity

_Well, that went well. _I exited the arena. It had been too many rounds for my taste, but I was finally in the finals, having defeated the opposition easily. I had only three opponents left before I could challenge Hercules. One of those contestants was my target, Cloud. Another was Ashley, and the last was Chris, tag teaming with Nudge, who wasn't allowed to enter alone. I wasn't surprised that those four had made it into the finals. They really were something else!

_I'm slower then I should be._ I rolled my shoulder blades, hoping to limber up for tomorrow's match. _Too many fights in a row. I guess that's the life of a gladiator._

Chris and Nudge had shown a natural affinity for each other, one that made them an even better tag team. Ashley had shown amazing skill with her keyblade, one that I could honestly say was an equal to mine. And Cloud…. I was worried about that one. He was the type of fighter that one like myself generally avoided. His weapon, the Buster Sword, was as big as he was, as wide and as long, maybe a bit longer. A great contrast to my gauntlets, which were made for punching. Even the wing-blades wouldn't give me an advantage. _Looks like I'll have to break out that stun blaster._ I reflected mentally. If I could get his sword away from him, I would have no problem getting him. But the problem was the sword. His range was too long.

I lay in my bed, thinking about the match to come, until my eyes closed.

"Long day at the office?"

My eyes snapped open, and my wing-blade was at the neck of the god of the dead.

"Come on, give a guy a break." Hades growled. His hair was made of blue fire, his eyes were big and yellow, and reminded me of moons. He wore a black and blue robe, and his skin was a pale blue. "I'm not here to hurt you; In fact, I've got a very good business proposition."

"I don't care." I sat up, swinging back my blade into punching position.

"Come on!" Hades begged. "You'll like the rewards!"

"Not interested." I said, taking a leaf from Cloud's book.

"I can restore Iris's memories." Hades needled. That stopped me.

"You can do that?" I asked quietly.

"She was in this world when she died the first time. It is for a similar service for me returning her to you that I come to you here." Hades explained. "When I gave her back to you, part of her memories stayed here. I can restore those memories to her, but only if I have another body to take their place."

I paused, in agony. Unbeknownst to everyone in my life, Iris and I had been married. I had loved her like no one had ever loved. She was the only thing that mattered to me. _But if this is part of some plot of Hades, and could affect other worlds…_ Which came first: the Heart or Duty?

"I'll take you up on your offer." I said, feeling tears of betrayal stinging my eyes. I forced them back, and fixed the cold expression of a killer on my face. I had done something similar once before, when I had killed a man for Hades in exchange for the return of Iris. However, when she had awoken, she was devoid of a few memories. Everything from age seventeen to age twenty four had been erased. Those were the years that I had been with her. I had met her at age seventeen, married her at age twenty, and lost her at age twenty four. She was now twenty five, and I was twenty six. I had lived for an entire year with her not knowing a single thing about our past. It was painful.

"Who is my target?" I asked, now totally focused upon my new mission. _I am sorry, my king. _ I apologized silently to my master. _But I must forgo the mission for a moment. My love's memories are at stake._

"Well, that's more like it!" Hades clapped. "I've already assigned a man to kill this bloke, name of Cloud, but in case Cloud fails it'll be up to you. You are to try and kill Hercules. Got it?"

"Is that all?" I asked. Killing Hercules wouldn't be that big of a problem. It could be claimed that a fatal injury I inflicted upon him was an accident.

"No. You gotta also take out the brats with the powers. That kid, Chris, and that girl with the keyblade, they're dangerous to me. They should be destroyed."

"The great god Hades is afraid of a kid?" I asked, not believing myself.

"Well, in order for you to get to Hercules, you gotta get through them first." Hades pointed out.

"Whatever." I waved him off. "Now get out of my room."

I walked out of the room. _Well, I must work together with my first target, and try and kill Hercules. Great… But I won't take out those kids._

I continued walking, knowing I wouldn't be getting any sleep that night.

**Ouch… wouldn't it be harsh to be in Frostmourne's position? Hades really annoys me… Review!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:_ Chris Talonflight: _Friendship

We clashed; her Lurebreaker against my Soul Eater. Ashley pushed me back a few feet, before I did a back flip behind me. I landed, and fired a weak bolt of dark energy at her. She dodged it, and began firing blasts at me from his keyblade. I used the darkness to propel me through midair in a gliding move. Then I called on Nudge to throw me towards Ashley. My ally did as required, as well as conjuring a dark shield around me when I landed behind Ashley. Ashley was distracted with fending off Nudge, and I took the opportunity to kick her down. However, Ashley then summoned a circle of light around her, knocking Nudge into a wall, where he became entangled in a pile of chairs. I then engaged her in a slashing duel for a few moments. Then, when I again locked blades with her, I summoned a storm of black electricity. The storm slammed into Ashley, sending her flying.

"Not a scratch!"

Ashley had deflected the brunt of the attack with a storm of meteors! I growled. _She learns fast, when she actually STARTS learning. She didn't practice at all until we started this trip; unlike me, who started earlier back in Traverse Town. _Nudge ran up to me and hopped on my shoulders. He swayed for a moment, and then seemed to fuse with me, putting my into my dark form. I summoned the second Soul-Eater, and faced off with Ashley again. Ashley charged me. Bad move. I deflected her keyblade with my two Soul Eaters. I launched myself into a karate kick, which missed, but I used my momentum to rebound off the wall and slam into the ground, creating a dark shockwave. The shockwave slammed into Ashley, who recovered quickly, and fired a blast at me with her keyblade, knocking me from my feet. I rolled, and came up on Ashley's left. I then sank into the ground, like a shadow heartless, and dashed around Ashley. The wall of darkness I inscribed around her stayed there after I surfaced. Then I made the trap close in on her. However, when the wall exploded, Ashley stood there, having used a cure Materia at the last second. In anger, I slammed my swords together, and called on the power of Last Chaos, the dark keyblade. I flew at her. She tried to block my strike, but my animal strength broke his block, and pushed her back. She dodged and ran. I pursued. I had a strange sense of déjà vu. I made a fist, and Ashley was entrapped in a fist of darkness.

"Give up?" I asked, putting Last Chaos to her throat. It was the first time I had gone darkness form since Traverse Town, and I didn't enjoy it. But I really REALLY wanted to win the tournament!

"… Yeah." She smiled at me. "Nice blindfold."

I dropped the dark hand, and we fell to the ground, laughing. It was strange, in the middle of an arena, to burst out laughing. Then I allowed my dark form to fall away from me.

_Wow… I never thought I would beat her… she's the keyblade mistress after all. But then, she doesn't have full use of her powers yet. She's only just begun to tap into her abilities, preferring to rely on her physical skills, while I began using my powers from the start, with Nudge's guidance. He sure is smart. Sometimes I wish he was human, though…_

Dismissing thoughts from my mind, I went to the designated rest stop. Frostmourne was there, getting ready for his next match: Cloud. Cloud hadn't lost a single match yet, while I had lost one. Frostmourne hadn't lost any. The rules of the tourney were that if you gained two losses you were out, until you reached the finals, which we had just entered, during which one loss would get you kicked. It was down to me, Cloud, and Frostmourne.

"Hey!" I said to Frostmourne. He merely turned and walked off.

"What's his problem?" I muttered.

**(Cue song "Points of Authority" by Linkin Park)**

Cloud and Frostmourne faced off. Frostmourne flicked his wrists, and the two metal wings that ran along his arms flipped up into his hands, like a pair of short swords. Cloud merely lifted his huge sword. David swung his fist, and it bounced off Cloud's sword. Cloud then ran forwards. His swing seemed to cleave Frostmourne, but Frostmourne wasn't there. Frostmourne was behind him, flipping down his wing-swords back into punching position. He began punching Cloud in the face, several hits, too close in for Cloud's sword to be of much use. Frostmourne managed to kick Cloud after the punch combo before Cloud swatted him away with the Buster Sword. Frostmourne landed on his feet, and they faced off again. Frostmourne went for a sliding kick to the feet, which Cloud easily jumped over. While Cloud was turning around, Frostmourne was already there, and he threw Cloud to the edge of the arena. Frostmourne rebounded off the wall and kicked Cloud in the face several times, before Cloud flung him away with a single strike again.

_Man, Frostmourne is fast!_ I thought frantically. So far, Cloud was taking a tremendous beating, although his massive swings had to be hurting Frostmourne as well. _How can I take someone that fast?_

Cloud launched into a series of slashing combos, which Frostmourne had trouble deflecting because of the massive size and weight of his weapon. However, once the combo ended, Frostmourne leaped on top of Cloud, driving him to the floor, and pushed off of Cloud, slamming him into the floor while Frostmourne used the push to land safely. However, Cloud slashed a weak swing with his sword, which sent Frostmourne flying towards a wall. I thought that Frostmourne would splatter like an egg on the wall, but he landed, impossibly, and rebounded off the wall to slam an unsuspecting Cloud into the ground, drag him forwards, throw him into the air, and send his flying into a pile of jars with a blast from what I suspected was a stun blaster.

Frostmourne stood there, alone on the field. There were a few moments of silence, as the crowds took in the insane violence. I too, thought that Frostmourne had gone too far.

Then I heard a crumbling sound, and Cloud emerged from the pile, bloodied and battered, but still defiant. He sent a huge piece of rubble flying towards Frostmourne, which Frostmourne deflected, but Cloud was already next to him, and Cloud's slash connected, wounding Frostmourne severely in the the shoulder. I also heard several bones break. Frostmourne stood up, equally grim, injured, and defiant. It was a wonder that either of them could stand.

"Why won't you give up?" Frostmourne and Cloud growled at the same time. Their answers were in unison.

"Because I'm fighting FOR something!" they both screamed.

Out of nowhere, a huge paw came slamming down on each of them. They fell, both unconscious. I looked up, shocked, and remembered what was to happen at this point in the game.

Cerberus, the four-headed watchdog of the underworld, had attacked.

Hercules ran up. "Get out of here!" he yelled at me and the rest of my group. We complied, running forwards, but not towards the exit. Instead, Donald and Goofy grabbed Frostmourne and Cloud and carried them out, while Hercules, Ashley, and I faced the menace.

"One head each…" I said to Hercules. "Fitting…" I nodded at Nudge, and we ran forwards.

"Let's make this easy." Ashley winked at me as she fired a stream of meteors at her targeted head. I began unleashing blasts of dark energy at the head that I had targeted, while Hercules began charging at his target.

I saw a blur in the head that Nudge had taken on, and I realized that Nudge was _inside_ the monster. He had leapt on the back of Cerberus, and used the technique where you could sink into the ground, but instead he had sunk into Cerberus. Nudge was perfectly safe, but it caused Cerberus tremendous pain. I aided Nudge by encasing each of Cerberus's limbs, as well as his neck, in bands of darkness and lifted. It was the hardest thing I had done up to that point. However, although it nearly killed me, I managed to keep Cerberus from moving. While I had restrained Cerberus, Hercules had been moving in. He was about to stab Cerberus, when Nudge leaped out of the monster, and was accidentally hit by Hercules.

"Nudge!" I yelled!" dropping the restraining field, I ran to my little friend, who was lying motionless on the ground.

"Oh gods…" Hercules breathed. "I'm… Chris, I'm so sorry…"

"Shut up and kill the damn dog!" I cursed. Ashley and he complied, stabbing the monster in the heart, killing it effectively, and banishing it back to its dark grave in the underworld.

I cradled the head of my friend in my lap. "Come on…" I took out the Cura Materia from my pocket, and rolled it on the small Shadow's wound. "Come on… You can't… you can't die…"

Nudge's eyes opened, and stared painfully. He was alive: barely.

"Come on!" I yelled. I picked up my little friend and ran for the others. "To the Gummi Ship! We've got to get him to Merlin and Aerith!"

"But we can't!" Donald protested. "We've go to get to Neverland and lock this keyhole!"

"I don't care!" I yelled. "Tell you what: YOU guys stay here, find the keyhole, and fix up matters between Frostmourne and Cloud, and work on Neverland; I'M taking Nudge, my FRIEND, to Traverse Town where he can get HELP!" With those angry retorts, I picked up Nudge, created a portal of darkness, ignored my friends protests, and ran through out into the first district.

* * *

I burst in through the doors of the Accessory Shop…

"Anyone Here?!"

It was empty.

"NO!" I yelled. I lay Nudge down on a table, arranging his limbs in what I hoped were a comfortable position. I had come to really like the lovable little heartless who was not a heartless, and I couldn't imagine going through the worlds any more without his support. I loved the little guy. He was like the little brother/puppy I had never had. Although powerful, his personality was that of a little child, curious, happy, lovable, and kind, even if a bit rowdy some times.

_Please… _I spoke to nothing. _Please don't let Nudge die…_

_ Materia?_

Yuffie's voice ran through my head. Throughout all of my journeys I had missed Yuffie, and for that reason I had refrained from turning the Materia she had given me into anything. Now I had an idea.

I created a dark portal to what I hoped was the world of Yen Sid. I had noticed long ago that Yen Sid was Disney backwards. Whatever. All that I knew was that he was the most powerful magician in every single world, more powerful then even the King.

I stepped through the portal, and found myself in utter blackness.

_The Void! _I had accidentally sent myself to the place in Gummi Space that everyone dreaded: the Void. I tried to remember what Frostmourne had once told me of it. _"__It's a strange area where there is simply nothing. Its worse even then the World of Darkness, 'cuz in the Void nothing at all exists, not even darkness. It's merely... nothing."_

_Well this sucks. _I thought, as I summoned a portal of darkness, and disappeared from that terrible place. However, right before I entered the portal, I thought I saw Rodney, lying down, gripping his weapons, dressed in a gray robe. _It's just an illusion! _I thought. However, he disappeared as I went through the portal.

This time, I found myself in a large castle, on a huge staircase. I sprinted upwards, until I reached the top, then I rammed open the twin doors, and fall on my knees before the old wizard.

"Please!" I begged in a quiet voice. "I will do anything, pay any price, if only you will just give this Materia the power of your strongest healing spell!"

"Why in the world would you need the strongest healing spell?" The Wizard asked sternly.

"Because without it my best friend in all the worlds will die!" I sobbed. "And I cannot let him die!"

"Who is this friend?" he asked inexorably.

"He is a Shadow Heartless. His name is Nudge."

"And why would you seek to heal a Heartless?"

"Because he saved my life and the life of my friends when our world was overtaken by darkness!"

"Ahh, a Tame Heartless. I have heard of them." Yen Sid muttered. "You have much to learn, young one, and your wish is substantial, but I cannot give you what you ask freely. You must earn it!" he picked up his wand. "Let us discover: how strong is your heart!"

**Epic Cloud vs. Frostmourne fight! And Nudge is wounded! Can Chris get the spell in time? Review!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:_ Chris Talonflight: _Awakening

**(Cue song "Fragments of Sorrow" from the Kingdom Hearts original soundtrack)**

I seemed to be standing in the exact center of a large circular platform, with a symbol of a heart on it, with a picture of Ashley, Rodney, C, and I in one corner, a picture of Yuffie, Leon, Aerith, Cloud, and the rest of the Traverse Town gang in the opposite corner. In the other corner was a picture of a man in a white kimono, Juan, Xanju, and a hooded man with Rodney's weapons. In the final corner stood Frostmourne, the King, Ansem the Wise, and the other keyblade masters of the past: Terra, Aqua, and Ven. All of this was on a black background. The tiles making up the pictures seemed to be stained glass, and there was light shining through them, as well as a light far above that cast my shadow.

"It is only your heart that is here now." Yen Sid hovered just beyond the platform edge. "You are without and powers of darkness and light, without any power or weapon you might have. This is the Station of Awakening!"

Around me hovered a sword, a mage's staff, and a knight's shield.

_Choose your item! _Yen Sid's voice told me.

I automatically gripped the sword. I knew no magic, and the shield would be useless.

_Ahh, you are a warrior! You do not deceive yourself about what you are._

Then the other weapons disappeared, and a small stairway appeared, leading up. I ran up it. I reached an identical platform, but instead of the previous black background, there was a dark green background.

Here, a book, a magnifying glass, a whip, and a pair of glasses appeared. I picked up the book.

_You wish to see the story of life, and want only for a happy ending for all. That is true._

Another stairwell appeared, and I climbed again, until I arrived at the next, blue platform. A statue of a shadow heartless appeared, next to a statue of Nudge. I could tell the difference. I touched Nudge.

_You know who your friends are. I wonder…_

Another stair appeared, and I climbed yet again. The next platform was red. On it were a floating Heartless symbol , a floating Nobody symbol, and a floating Heart symbol. They spun in a blindingly fast circle.

_Test your determination._

I reached out. I grabbed, hoping it was the Heart. However, I had grabbed the heartless symbol. Instantly, the platform below me broke, and I fell down to the previous stage. However, as I hit the floor, I became a heartless. I was completely black, with yellow eyes. _ Anti-Chris… _Several heartless appeared around me. I ran at them, and defeated them with the strength of a heartless. When I again climbed the stairs, I reached the same red platform. This time, I accidentally grabbed the Nobody symbol, and again fell. This time, I became a strange type of variation to a Dusk. I was humanoid, but my arms had blades on them, as well as having my own head on my shoulders. _Huh… Xsirch… _I defeated a group of other dusks. When I returned to the platform, I knew that if I missed again, I would never escape. This third time, I grabbed the heart, and I transformed back into my normal self.

_You still continue, despite setbacks. That is good._

This platform was a light yellow. It was empty, except for my huge, black shadow.

_Beware: the closer you get to the light, the larger your shadow becomes._

From my shadow emerged a huge heartless. I raised my sword from the black platform. Instantly, a mixture of light and darkness shot from it, striking the Heartless in the center of its chest. It faded into darkness. Another stair appeared.

At the next, white stage, I stood alone. Suddenly, Yuffie was there. And on my opposite side, Nudge! To my left was my brother! To my right was my mother!

_There will be times when you will not be able to save them all. Who will you choose?_

I was torn. _How could he expect me to choose between this?_ I wondered. As I watched, a line of darkness appeared around each, about to cut them in half.

_NO! _I cried in my heart. Suddenly, it all made sense.

_My mother was dead before I reached the worlds. Let the dead rest in peace._ The beam of darkness sliced through the woman who was my mother. _My brother is also dead. Let his soul rest. The dead should never be brought back. If they are dead then they are at peace. A peace they well deserve!_

That left two living. In a flash I had grabbed Nudge in one hand, and grabbed Yuffie in the other, and twisted them from the darkness. I landed with them in my arms, having managed to save them both from the darkness.

_Very well done! But you have made your next trial all the harder._

The two I had saved suddenly became huge heartless. Yuffie became a Darkside, while Nudge merely swelled to ten times his size, and was just as big as the Darkside. I swiped at the legs of the monster that had replaced Yuffie, and at the same time I kicked the eye of the giant Shadow. The Darkside collapsed, while the Shadow fell, clutching its eye, and rolled off the edge of the Station. The Darkside I leaped atop of and ran its head through with my sword.

_Quite well executed. You may proceed. Only the strong of heart can become worthy._

I ran up the flight of stairs. This final level was multicolored, with all of the colors of the rainbow spiraling into a black center. **(Cue song "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback)**

_Your heart tells the truth. You are able to save the friends that you can, and you do not deceive yourself about life. You are not weak when it comes to combat, for your heart has a purpose, and you will not allow yourself to die before that happens. You are also quite determined, for you escaped the Heartless and Nobody trap. You know who your friends are. You are quite decisive. Now you must pass the ultimate test._

_Never made it as a wise man._ _I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing. I'm tired of living like a blind man._ _ I'm sick of sight without a sense of feeling._ All of this was true: I had begun to really hate the Station of Awakening.

A figure appeared. It turned around… What-

_Can you defeat yourself?_

I readied my sword for combat. The other me raised an identical weapon. We hurled ourselves at each other. We tried to hack each other apart. _Slash, spin, block, duck, slash, uppercut, punch, dodge._ Neither of us was getting anywhere. _Is this how you remind me of what I really am?_

Suddenly, I was aware of a ticking timer. It was not in the Station, but in my mind. I knew without a doubt that if I did not escape soon, I wouldn't be escaping at all, but would go to join the others in the eternal fall from the top of the station.

I hurled myself again at the other me. This time, I reached for Yuffie's headband that was wrapped around the head of the other me, just as it was on me. I pulled it off. I threw it over the edge of the Station. The other me did exactly the same thing as I, but its throw was muddled. In a flash, we were both at the edge of the Station, and then we were falling. On instinct, I lashed out with the sword, and caught the edge of the station, barely hanging onto it. The other me wasn't so lucky. He caught his headband, but missed the edge. He fell the eternal fall of those who could not escape the Station of Awakening, screaming one word: "Sorry!" I clawed my way back to the top of the station, and replaced Yuffie's headband on my head_. It's not like you to say sorry. I was waiting on a different story. _

I had started walking towards the doorway that had appeared, but suddenly I seemed to be moving at the speed of glue. The floor beneath me began cracking. I ran in what seemed to be slow motion, and seemed miles away from the door. _And I've been wrong, and I've been dumped into the bottom of every bottle._

_Is this it? _I wondered. _Have I come all this way merely to be defeated by this final test? No… I will not allow it to end this way… not yet!_

I sprinted at the speed of glue for the doorway. I was almost there! I reached out and touched the door frame. My hand closed around the handle. I pulled the door open, and I started going inside, but the floor beneath me crumbled away. I fell, once again barely saving myself by grabbing the edge of the door. I pulled myself up, and fell through the door, into-

I sat up. I had escaped the trials of the Station of Awakening.

"You made it out." Yen Sid stood by where I sat. "I never expected one like you to have such a strong heart. And your heart is good too. For your heart, I will do what you request."

"What about the payment?" I was still a little groggy.

Yen Sid smiled. "I have your memories. Believe it or not, but when you were in the Station of Awakening I learned more about you then anyone in the world could ever know about you. And I have your history. It makes a good story. I might just read it one day. I consider it payment enough."

I smiled. "Make it a good book. Call it Light of Happiness."

"I quite like that title… yes, I believe it will do." Yen Sid then picked up the changeable Materia. He then muttered a few words, and the Materia turned a dark green. "I have performed my service. Now, I suggest you get it to the people who need it most."

"Thank you." I bowed to the wizard. I was strangely sorry to leave. In the process of climbing the Station of Awakening, I had become friends with this old man without knowing it.

"Come back and visit sometime!" he called. "And give the King my regards!"

"I will!" I called, before sprinting through a dark portal to the Accessory Shop.

**OOH! Station of Awakening! Epic chapter. And anyone notice the title of the book Yen Sid was going to write? Review!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:_ Yuffie Stromwind: _Reunion

I tossed and turned in my cot. It was at times like this that I missed him most: the dark hours of the night, when I was alone. Suddenly, I heard the door slam open, and heard someone yell.

"Anyone here?!" he yelled. Then he yelled "no!", and put something down. Then there was the sound of someone making a dark portal, and then silence.

I got up. It had sounded like… _Chris…_ I ran downstairs… no one. Then I heard a squeal, and saw a shadow heartless wearing a blue-velvet collar lying on the couch.

"Nudge?" I asked, feeling exposed, since I was only wearing my bathrobe. Isn't it strange: I can dress like I do during the day, but at night I feel naked wearing a robe?

Nudge squeaked weakly. Then I saw the dark fluid seeping from a huge gash in his body.

"Nudge!" I cried. I got out one of my cure Materia, and started trying to heal the wounds, but it did so little I might as well have not bothered.

"Where's Chris?" I asked him. Nudge pointed at the Materia I was holding, and squeaked. He mimed the symbol for "many".

"Chris went to get more healing Materia? Good for him!" I said soothingly. "Don't worry, I'll stay here with you." I laid my hand on his head once, and then held his little dark hand as we waited. I rested my head on the couch. It had been a long day, and I was tired. Plus, Chris would be here soon…

… "Yuffie?"

My eyes snapped open to see Chris's face quite close to mine. "Chris?" I whispered. "Is this real or just a dream?" I fervently hoped it was real. And if it was a dream, I never wanted to be woken up.

"Its real." He kissed me on the forehead. His lips were soft. He then reached over me with something in his hand. He pressed it into Nudge's side, and there was a bright green glow.

"Cure Materia won't do much for this wound." I shook my head.

"This one will work." He said grimly. "It had better work." When he said that, the glow subsided, and he withdrew the Materia. It was a dark green, and of a shade I had never seen.

"What Materia is that?" I asked, curious.

"It's the one you gave me, and it's become a Curagala Materia." He said, his eyes shining. "So technically, you have just saved Nudge's life."

"I'm so glad!" I collapsed into his arms. We held each other like that. I wanted to stay like that forever.

"The others should get here by the day after tomorrow." He said in my ear. "Where's the rest of your group?"

"Drinking." I frowned. "Even though I do like the occasional hangover now and then, they're over there drinking themselves into oblivion. Leon… he and the others took it hard when they couldn't find Rodney-"

"Wait, Rodney's gone?" he asked, worried.

"Yes… and it's my entire fault…" I cried. Tears dripped at the memory. "I… I couldn't save him!" I told him the story. He hugged me tighter.

"It wasn't your fault, Yuffie!" he said gently but firmly. "There was nothing you could have done! And no matter what happened, it doesn't change the way that I feel about you!"

"You said that you would tell me something when you came back." I remembered.

"Ahh… yes…" He smiled. "Yuffie… This is kind of hard to tell you…. Just because I'm an easily embarrassed idiot." I laughed.

"Well, the world-famous ninja Yuffie will just have to get the confession out of you!" I fake-growled, while tickling him. We fell to the floor, laughing. Nudge stared at us like we were insane, then turned around and went to sleep.

I landed on top of Chris. I stared into his eyes. They were so brown… so deep… so enticing… so… _loving_…

"Chris!" C tackled him from under me with his water power. I fell into the deluge, and got wet as a result. I still laughed: I wanted Chris to be happy.

"Hey!" Chris responded to the assault with a gust of dark wind, which lifted him outside. He looked at me, and mouthed the words "We'll finish this later", before beginning a good-natured brawl with C.

Leon walked up to me and watched the two pals playing.

"You gave him that Materia, and your headband?"

"Mmhm." I said affirmatively.

"He gave you that medallion, and his chain?"

"Mmhm."

"He's really something to you, isn't he?"

I nodded. "He's everything."

"Do you love him, Yuffie?" Leon asked gently.

"I…" I nodded. "Yes… I love him."

**Awe… Love… Cute… this is a great match up (in my mind), and I'm glad I made it now, although I wasn't sure if Yuffie could pull off the inner emotions… Review!**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:_ Ashley Luciano: _Homecoming

I dispatched yet another Heartless with my keyblade.

_These things just keep on coming! _I thought frantically. _We need Chris and Nudge!_ I took out several heartless with a combo.

"There's too many!" I yelled. Donald merely quacked, and unleashed a barrage of Thundara spells. Goofy was spinning in tight circles, taking out heartless with each turn with his diamond-edged shield. I allowed my guard to drop as I ran to Donald. I remembered the team attack moves in KH2: wouldn't it be possible to do them now?

"Donald!" I cried. "Send out your firecrackers!"

"But Ashley-" Donald protested.

"Do it!" I yelled. Donald reluctantly complied. His magical firecrackers raced through the mass of heartless, killing all of them. All but one.

We had avoided Captain Hook's ship, and had instead gone straight on to Big Ben, the Clock Tower. We had locked the keyhole, but had felt pressed to aid Peter Pan, since he was captured, and plus, none of us liked Captain Hook. So we had flown down. And what did we find but that Peter Pan and Wendy had already escaped, and instead found ourselves surrounded by Heartless. And now that there was only one Heartless left, we found ourselves about to leave. Only there was one problem.

That one heartless was Anti-Ashley. The Heartless version of myself. And it wielded a fake dark keyblade.

_Bastard._ I thought as I clashed with my dark form. _Why are there so many clones, replicas, and copies in these worlds? _ We fought tooth and nail. My keyblade was blocked at every strike by the dark replica. However, I soon realized that although the replica was strong, it had one inherit weakness that I did not have: light.

Flipping back, I fired a storm of light meteors at my opponent. It gave a wordless cry of agony, then faded away.

"Worthless." I kicked its fallen weapon into the ocean. Then I turned to my companions. Donald, Goofy, and Peter were surrounding Captain Hook.

"Well, Captain," I began, "I must be on my way! I'm going to let Peter here decide what to do with you!" with that I waved Donald and Goofy over, and we were beamed up to the Gummi Ship. Once inside the ship, I sat down in my chair, and pushed back my hair. It had been the hardest fight ever, because Chris hadn't been there. Chris was our most powerful fighter, and his dark abilities continued to grow with every battle. Before the world of Persia, Chris had only been able to do long range- and shockwave-type attacks. Then in Persia, he began manipulating the darkness in different ways with only effort of will. In Olympus Coliseum, he had used his new abilities to immobilize his enemies. Now that we were without him, we realized how much we had allowed ourselves to depend upon him.

_And why shouldn't we? _I asked myself. _He's our friend! He's supposed to have our backs wherever we go! Is this the way that friends treat each other? He just bailed on us because his little pet got hurt! He's probably just using it as an excuse to go see Yuffie again! What kind of a friend is that?_

I got up, pacing agitatedly. _Yuffie is a little whore who thinks she can get whatever she wants! And to think I was her friend! She…. Oooh….. I want to kill her! And that would be the best way to get back at Chris! _Although I knew in the back of my mind that I and Yuffie had grown to be quite good friends, I wasn't about to let obvious facts interfere with my angry tirade. I was stubborn like that.

I was so engrossed in my anger that I didn't even notice that we were approaching Traverse Town via warp drive. When we finally hovered above the world entrance, I locked the feelings of resentment away.

"Hey stranger!" I looked up, and saw C and Leon standing in front of the accessory shop. "Long time no see!" They waved me over. Donald and Goofy ran over to them, but I hung back a little. I didn't know what to say.

Yuffie tackled me from the side. She smiled at me, a smile so devoid of animosity that I couldn't help but smile back. Darn it, I forgave her…

"Welcome back!" she said happily. "I've been waiting! I've got to talk to you!" I obliged, and allowed her to pull me away into the shop.

"I've got to ask you something." Yuffie said. "Do you have feelings for Chris?"

I laughed at the absurdity of the prospect. "Me? Chris? Your joking!" I was serious. "I have absolutely no romantic attraction to Chris, although…" I looked in her eyes. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Absolutely." Yuffie nodded. "This is just between us girls."

"There is one person I DO like. And…" I hesitated. Should I tell her? I'd take the chance. "Rodney." I muttered. With that an expression of pain flitted across Yuffie's features. Then she shook her head.

"I… I'm sorry, Ashley." There were tears in her eyes. "Rodney was captured by a group of people in the fourth district. We've searched the entire area, but we couldn't find him… I'm… I'm so sorry!"

Those words tore me apart on the inside. I turned around and ran up towards my old room. I needed to sleep.

**Harsh… That's gotta hurt, Ash. Review!**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: _Johnson: _Hollow Bastion

_These impudent fools… Honestly, my TOY could do better against these idiots! _I thought to myself as I looked down upon the witch who had asked me for such a favor. Maleficent was the only person out of her Heartless group that had not been beaten down yet, and she was without aid. So she had come to me, telling me that she would give me the power of Kingdom Hearts. _Pah! Kingdom Hearts is already closer to being mine then she could ever dream! I could squash her like a bug right now and she wouldn't even know she would have died!_

"You know there are advantages to my offer, Johnson." She folded her arms. "You would gain the power of Kingdom Hearts, as well as rid yourself of a few insolent pests."

"Not interested." I growled. "Raise your payment a bit more and I might reconsider."

Maleficent raised an eyebrow. "What of the keyblade?"

"The light doesn't suit me." I retorted. The fact that I was unable to wield the keyblade stung me. "However, there is another…" I had been observing the dark warrior who had traveled with the keyblade mistress. It turned out he was also a good friend, perhaps lover, of my toy. "There is a keyblade that is not of the light, but of the darkness. _That… _I would take as payment."

"A keyblade of darkness? How interesting…" I could _hear _Maleficent thinking about possibilities. "With that-"

"Its mine!" I snarled. "That is, if you want my help."

"You drive a hard bargain, Johnson, for someone whose real name I do not even know." Maleficent pointed out.

"Nevertheless, it's the price you have to pay for my aid." I paused. "Will you agree to the bargain?"

Maleficent slammed her staff down on the ground, sending out a column of green fames. "Done!" she shook my hand.

"All right." I raised my hand, and summoned Juan, Xanju, and my newest soldiers.

"Greetings, Reaper of Darkness." Xanju said in salutation as he emerged from the dark portal.

"Quite impressive." Maleficent said when he emerged. "But do you not have more?"

"There is always more when it comes to the darkness, Death Witch!" Juan proclaimed, stepping out from the portal.

"So you deal with Nobodies _and _Heartless?" Maleficent seemed confident. "A feat in itself."

Another figure walked through the portal. Hacking into Castle Oblivion had been useful, after all!

Out of the portal emerged a copy of the Wielder of Darkness, Chris. He stared about him in wonder.

"Replicas… How inventive." Did she have to comment on everything?

Then a wave of strange energy rolled from the portal encompassing a humanoid figure. It was encompassed in a swathing grey robe, which hid most of its bodily features. From its sleeves, a mixture of darkness, flesh, a strange white substance, and strange blue energy emerged. As I watched, it formed itself into the shape of a hand. In the hand, a strange sword appeared. The top half was the shape of a katana, but the bottom half was that of a broadsword. It was encased in blue light. The head of the figure was covered in a huge hood that hid its face. However, you could just make out two glowing, blue eyes. Eyes filled with menace.

"What…" Maleficent was taken aback. "What is that?"

"I am hunger…" it whispered. "I am thirst. I am everything. I am nothing. I am darkness. I am light. I am living. I am dead. I have a heart. I have no heart. I am human. I am inhuman."

Then it pushed back its hood its hood, and said in a completely mangled voice. "I am no longer a person."

I walked over to my newest recruit. "Welcome Hybrid, the Lightning's Accomplice."

"A Hybrid?" Maleficent asked.

"Part Heartless, part Nobody, part human, and part Universed." I was increasingly proud of my newest creation. "Formerly Rodney Castro of Earth, friend of the Keyblade Mistress and the Wielder of Darkness!"

Maleficent began a low, chuckling laugh, which I echoed, until our eerie laughter drowned out all else.

The interfering insects would pay!

**EPIC! THAT IS ALL I CAN SAY! THE PIECES ARE MOVING INTO PLACE! REVIEW!**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: _Chris Talonflight: _Prelude to Battle

_Yuffie…_ I sighed, as I watched her train. _Here I am sitting staring at you training like a lovesick idiot. And I STILL haven't told you that I love you. Heh… _I remembered the Awakening level in Kingdom Hearts, compared it to my own experience there, and remembered how I had saved "Yuffie". Below me Yuffie took on Leon in a one on one spar.

_Well, I need to tell her before I leave next._ I sighed, and put my head in my hands.

"Need help?" A familiar voice behind me growled. I turned with a gasp.

"David Frostmourne!" I tackled him. He picked me up by my collar.

"Hmm… your taller then before." He let me go, and I smiled. Then I realized that I had dropped my wallet. I bent over to pick it up, and then I noticed something. He had a few new scars.

"Cloud, huh?" I asked. Frostmourne winced.

"Don't ask." He sat down next to me. "That man really did a number on me. In all fairness, though, he was just as beat up as I was. Fortunately, he was able to help me complete my mission, as well as get my wounds healed. Olympus deals directly with a wizard who can cast Curagala spells: only the second person able to do so."

"What _was _your mission?" I asked, still curious.

"Find Cloud; make him another way for the king to touch base, like Leon." He shrugged. "The reason I fought so hard against him was because Hades promised to restore my wife's memories to her if I won. I really don't want to talk about it."

"Its all right." I looked back at the girl I was in love with. "Man, I've got to tell her soon."

"You really love her, don't you?" he seemed sad.

"Yeah." I stared at my "world-famous ninja Yuffie". "I love her."

We were quiet for a few moments, and then Frostmourne seemed to remember something.

"On my way here I made a stop at the King's Castle. I couldn't find myself a new outfit, but I daresay he wouldn't mind me lending _YOU _guys these." He tugged out a large bag. From it he drew out a black outfit. It had a single black shoulder-plate of armor, with black pointy armor running down the left arm, and covering the hand, with four slots. The shoulder plate had a symbol of the King on it, and on the inside it had a Heartless symbol inside an O with a diagonal line through it, in the classic "NO" symbol. The torso of the outfit was black leather, along with the legs, which had some black armor on them too, with more strange slots in them. The right arm was short sleeved, but there was a long fingerless glove that reached my elbow, and several arm-bands to fill the remaining space. I changed out of my old jacket and jeans, while Frostmourne looked away obligingly. When I had changed, he looked again, and confirmed. It was a perfect fit. And better, it wasn't big at all, only like I was wearing a long sleeved shirt.

"Those slots are for Materia, or any other important things you want to put in them." He explained. I took out the Curagala Materia, and slid it into the hand slot. Then I put the normal Cure Materia in one of the leg slots.

"I only use these two Materia." I explained, "But it should be good for carrying potions."

"I was just about to explain that." He handed me four potions. "The suit recognizes potions, and administers them when you need them. They inject them. Its kind of tingly, but it works. And its automatic." He slung the bag over his shoulder. "I understand you'll be going to Hollow Bastion soon and taking C with you. Since there's one more going, I figure I'll meet up with you guys there, and tag along. That okay with you?"

"Sure!" I nodded. "Do you have suits for the others too?"

"You bet!" he smiled. I realized I hadn't seen his smile since I'd met him until now. As he walked away, I heard him mutter:

"_And I stole her memories back in the bargain! I love this job!"_

I leaped down from the balcony to land on the ground of the arena, using a dark portal halfway through the fall to avoid death.

"Hey Yuffie," I called. We hadn't been alone together in a while. "Want to go to the bar again?" Last time we had gone, two days ago, C had gone with us to "chaperone", and had very nearly gotten kicked.

"All right!" Yuffie squealed with delight, as she countered a blow of Leon's. "Just let me finish up here!" I nodded. "Cool outfit!" she called as I walked out, waiting for her by the door. A few minutes later, Yuffie joined me, and we began walking towards the bar. Suddenly, I felt Yuffie's hand grip mine. Her skin was soft. I looked at her, and saw that she was looking down, as if embarrassed.

I stopped, and pulled her towards a darkened alcove. I had to tell her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Remember I had to tell you something?" I reminded her. "I have to say it now." Her eyes widened.

"Chris..." she touched my face.

"I…" I stammered. "I… I love you. And I always have! And I always will!" With that I caught her in my arms.

"Chris!" she said, tears running from her eyes. "I love you too!" Then we kissed, there beneath the streetlight, and for a moment, everything seemed right. There was no more hesitancy in her kiss, and I felt her passion and longing in the way we kissed.

"Hello, Toy!"

I whirled around, and was smacked aside by a strange sword. I lay there on the ground, in paralyzing pain from my wound. But what I saw made me even more enraged. I tried to stand, but coils of golden energy held me down.

A man in a white kimono was holding Yuffie up by the neck. "I understand you've been looking for me. If you want the girl back, come to Hollow Bastion! Bring your friends: we'll have a party!" he then burst out in demonic laughter.

"Chris!" Yuffie yelled. "Don't do it! It's a trap! Its Johnson!" Then they disappeared in a puff of yellow smoke.

I felt a sting in my leg, and felt an energy boost. Looking down, I saw my wound disappear, and the leather repair itself. _The potion!_ The potion in the suit Frostmourne had given me had saved my life. I crawled back towards the shop.

"Yuffie… Captured…" I gasped as I reached Leon. "Hollow Bastion… Johnson… got to go... help…" Then the potion wore off, and I was tired again, and I collapsed into darkness.

**Get ready for the beginning of the end! The final normal world before we go to Heartless worlds! Review!**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: _Yuffie Stromwind: _In Dark Hands

"Well, my toy, it seems that my plan is working well after all!" Johnson growled his joy.

"Why are you doing this, you psycho?!" I screamed.

"Hmm… you have gained courage since our last encounter. I must say I'm impressed." Johnson looked at me. "Could it be that this human you claim you 'love' has inspired this emotion?"

"Shut up!" I yelled at him, and then was blown back by a stinging slap. I looked back at him, and wondered how in the world I had ever even thought he was cute all those months ago.

"Hmm… How intriguing… Human emotions… However I believe I have an antidote for that." Johnson waved his hand, and a dark portal appeared. Out of the portal emerged a figure in a black jacket, with black leather gloves and torn up dark blue jeans.

_"CHRIS!?"_ I screamed. Chris merely stood there, looking at me blankly. Johnson grinned.

"Oh, you mean you thought it was your lover? How pathetic. This is not your lover. Don't you remember? Honestly, I have my doubts about you sometimes."

"Than who is it?!" I yelled in anger. "Why does he have Chris's face?!"

"It is quite simple." Johnson sniffed. "From my assessment, the only one who can defeat your lover, is your lover himself, or me. Chris, was it? Therefore, since Chris can only be defeated by Chris, I have created another Chris, with all of the powers of the first, plus another feature." He gestured to the replica again. The replica nodded, and immediately fused with a nearby Neoshadow and donned the dark armor of Chris's dark form. He wielded two Soul Eaters. "He does not fear the darkness in him as Chris does.

"Unfortunately, I have been quite unable to get him to summon the dark keyblade, but that will change in time." Johnson sighed. "Once he and the real Chris get close enough to each other, he will be able to summon some type of dark keyblade, and also gain the capacity for emotions." Johnson stroked the fake Chris's hair in a way that was almost fatherly. Fake Chris stood there, emotionless.

"I would also like to introduce you to my latest creation, one that should tear your heart from the inside out, and make you scream for death. For once I am through with the group that has been invited here, YOU will become like this one!" He waved his hand again, and from the portal stepped a figure. It was encompassed in a swathing grey robe, which hid most of its bodily features. From its sleeves, a mixture of darkness, flesh, a strange white substance, and strange blue energy emerged. As I watched, it formed itself into the shape of a hand. In the hand, a strange sword appeared. The top half was the shape of a katana, but the bottom half was that of a broadsword. It was encased in blue light. The head of the figure was covered in a huge hood that hid its face. However, you could just make out two glowing, blue eyes. Eyes filled with menace.

"Hello… Ninja…" It raised its head and I screamed with anger and pain.

"What did you do to him!?" I screamed. Rodney… he had been a good friend. And Ashley… what would I say to her?

"Hybrid has yet to learn what his memories are, which makes his usefulness limited. Once he remembers who he is, chances are he will turn on me."

"My lord, I would never do that!" the thing that Rodney had become protested. "My greatest pleasure is to serve you!"

"So you say, Hybrid. So you _say._" Johnson sighed. "However, I hope that in the few days that you idolize me you will serve me as I intend you to serve."

"Your will is my will!" The mangled voice replied. I was sickened.

"Rodney, you don't remember me?" I called hesitantly. Rodney shook his head.

"I only know that you are an enemy of my master's goal, and thus you must be eliminated."

"Not yet, Hybrid." Johnson stayed his sword. "She has a purpose in our scheme. She is the bait. And if Chris does indeed manage to rescue her, then he will fight all the harder against me to return to her. I want our final battle to be great!"

"Chris will never be tricked by you!" I cried fervently. "His heart is far more powerful then you can ever imagine! He passed the trials of the Station of Awakening!" That sparked an interest in Johnson's eyes.

"So he made it through the Station, eh?" A diabolical grin covered his features. "I can not wait to meet him in battle, should he pass through the trials I have set for him." He gestured towards the portal, and Juan and Xanju emerged.

"You used to be his friends!" I yelled. "Why are you helping this madman?!"

"Pfft. _Friendship._ A useless emotion." Xanju waved it off. "They are nothing to me but insects."

"As for me, any friendship they have dulls in comparison to Kingdom Hearts!" Juan proclaimed. The third figure spoke.

"When the Heartless reign over all, I will enjoy having you as allies, Johnson." A witch in black stood there.

"Indeed you will." Johnson smiled at the witch, but I saw through the disguise. He detested the witch, and he would do away with her as soon as he could.

_Chris…_ I thought desperately. _Whatever you do, don't come here. There's just to many different things happening._

**EVIL… IS… AWESOME…**

**Johnson is a really bad basterd.**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: _Chris Talonflight: _Rival Swords

I landed on the first of many floating rocks that formed the steps up to the Heartless Castle in the Dark Depths of Hollow Bastion. I looked behind me, and saw Ashley, Donald, Goofy, C, Frostmourne, and Nudge step out of the Gummi Ship beside me.

"So we know our mission, right?" I asked everyone. "Get in there, free Yuffie, free the Princesses of Heart, lock the keyhole, and get out. Got it?"

"Yeah." Everyone was in new combat gear, except Nudge and Frostmourne, who didn't need it.

We began ascending the steps. Suddenly I heard a roar. Beast had arrived.

We had been ignoring one fact central to the Kingdom Hearts One storyline: Maleficent's gang were capturing princesses from all the different worlds in order to reveal the keyhole of Hollow Bastion and undo Aerith's spell. They were missing one princess. I had mentally made the leap that Yuffie herself might be the last princess, and Johnson had been working with Maleficent. If so, there was still the need to give the hearts to the princesses, freeing them from the dark keyblade. I had long since wondered what would happen now, with so many parts of the story changed. I guessed we were about to find out.

As I looked ahead, I saw a figure yelling at the giant beast from the story Beauty and the Beast. Beast had arrived here through sheer force of will, without the aid of portals or Gummi equipment. I had to admire someone with that much will.

"Hey man, leave Beast alone-" my mouth shut suddenly as I faced the figure from my nightmares of Destiny Islands. I vividly entered the nightmare in my head, felt myself falling-

**(IF YOU HATE POINTLESS FILLER AND FLASHBACKS AND DREAMS, JUST SKIP THIS NEXT PART)**

_This world has been connected… Tied to the darkness…_ I stood on the edge of a path in a veritable paradise, a forest behind me, looking out onto the beach at the lone figure standing there. _There is so very much to learn… A meaningless effort… One who knows nothing can understand nothing…_ The words seemed to echo inside my head. As I watched, the water on the beach sank down, until the beach had become a deadly cliff, with cracks running through it. The water turned a diseased purple, and one by one, things on the island began to disappear: tree's; a rock sticking up out of the surf, now a mountain; bits of the tree house and playgrounds that had been lovingly erected on the border of the jungle and the beach; and worst of all, pieces of the sky, and the sun became darkened. I heard a tearing sound behind me, and I turned to see the forest become torn up, like wrapping paper, curling away from an area where I saw the diseased purple color mixed with darkness begin to eat away at the land. I turned to the figure, and said in a voice that couldn't be heard, "_Why are you doing this?" _As I watched, I saw the figure begin to turn. It was clad in the armor of darkness, with short black hair, with a single slash of white in his hair near the front. In its hand was a bat-wing shaped sword. As I watched, the wing unfurled and twisted, and it took on the shape of a dark keyblade. Then the figure completed its turn, and I saw the face. I screamed a silent scream, unheard in the destroyed paradise. For the figure had my own face.

I clenched my fists. First the nightmare of the destruction of my own world, and now this.

Dark malice filled the face of the person on the shore, and the me who was not me spoke the next few words:

_"Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison, surrounded by water. And so this boy wished to escape from his prison. His heart and mind wandered beyond the bounds of the reality of his world, although he believed he could not have it. Yet still he yearned for it, and now his wish has been granted. He wished for it, and he opened his heart to the darkness. For you see, Darkness is the hearts true essence."_

I finally found my voice in that terrible place. "You're wrong!" I yelled. "Even if darkness is all that the heart is, deep inside the darkness, there's a light that never goes out!" suddenly, in my hand there was the bat winged sword. As I looked at it, I saw darkness crawl up my arm, and begin to cover my body. I screamed. But when the darkness on me cleared, I was wearing a red scarf for a blindfold, with a black fighting outfit with a red symbol on it. Somehow, I could see through the blindfold as it it weren't there. I began to charge the figure of darkness that had my face, but then the last remaining thing on the island disappeared: the ground. As I fell into blackness, I hear a voice speaking. The only encouragement I could hear.

_Come on, Chris. I thought you were stronger then that._

**(OK, FILLER IS OVER. YOU MAY CONTINUE READING.)**

I regained my senses lying on the ground. I looked up and found myself alone except for the Beast and Nudge.

"Your friends pursued that other version of you into the castle. Immediately after they entered, the gates shut." Beast growled. "I would have followed, but I was injured by the other you. This shadow refused to leave your side. The only reason I have not attacked you was because you intervened on my behalf. Why did you do that?"

"I don't know who that other me was," I said, standing, "But no one should be denied their loved ones." I stuck out my hand to the beast. "My names Chris."

"I am known as the Beast." The Beast nodded. "I believe I have found a way into the castle. Will you come with me?"

I nodded, and together we entered the sewer system. There were Heartless in abundance here, but a few blasts from my dark powers and a few slashes of the Beast's claws obliterated them. "There's a switch here that should open the main gates." I nodded to a small box. Beast slashed it open, and I pulled the switch. I opened a dark portal back to the gates.

"It must be quite useful to be able to create portals." Beast commented.

"You have no idea." I agreed.

We fought our way up to the top of the tower. There were Heartless at every turn, but no sign of our friends. When we reached the chapel where Maleficent was waiting, we found only a black stain on the floor, and the sleeping Princess's of Heart along the walls.

"Seems that they took good care of her." I commented. "Thing is, something's not right."

"Quite right." I turned, and saw a figure of a woman standing there.

"Belle!" the Beast roared. He ran towards her, but the figure faded into a shadow Heartless. The Beast charged at it, but the doors to the Chapel closed behind him, locking him from the room.

"I've been waiting for you."

I turned, and confronted the other me. Clad in his dark armor, he nearly brought back the fainting vision on me again, but I thrust it away. **(Cue "Figure.09" by Linkin Park)**

"Hmph." The replica said. "Still afraid of the dark?" he summoned Soul Eater. I summoned Soul Eater.

"I will take your place and become a real person!" He yelled. "As long as your around, I'll never be more then a shadow!"

I blasted him with a wave of darkness. He countered with his own blast. Our shockwaves warred with one another, striving to push past the power point of the other. Eventually, his blast started pushing mine back.

"I'm not afraid of the darkness!" the replica growled.

"Shut up." I vaulted over his blast and swiped at him with Soul Eater. He responded with a block and a kick in the face. I slid back, and unleashed a barrage of small dark energy balls. My copy summoned a dark shield that nullified the charges. I made a fist, and a hand of darkness blasted up from behind him, and gripped him its ethereal fist. However, Replica blasted it from his body with more darkness. He then encased himself in a sphere of darkness. I stood there, confused. Then a shadow clone of me ran out of the sphere at high speed, and would have impaled me on a Soul Eater had I not dodged. It stayed there, as if frozen in time. Then another came flying out. I took the hang of it from here.

_Damn! This guy has Vanitas attacks! What else does he have? Hopefully not a dark X attack._ I thought, running in a wide arc around him. When the sphere dissipated, thousands of dark balls heartless ran at me, which I obliterated with a dark shockwave. As if reading my mind, the replica began a series of slashing combos. I summoned my second Soul Eater, meeting his combos. My opponent merely slammed him weapons together. I did the same. Our weapons flickered, and pulsed. But why was neither of us gaining the keyblade?

"You abandoned your friends at Olympus Coliseum!" the other me snarled

"Shut up!" I yelled. "You're a fake, a phony! Everything you are, everything you feel, and everything you remember!"

"I know that," he muttered. "The difference is, I can accept it!" with that, the keyblade appeared in his hands.

No… I had lost. I collapsed there, due to fatigue. I hadn't entered darkness form, but I knew that I would never allow myself to. I had lost... I realized what had happened. Only the true of heart could wield the keyblade. In this case, the dark keyblade would go to whoever had the strongest heart. The Replica had made me feel guilty, and thus had won the keyblade.

"You aren't injured badly." The replica walked away, out into the next room. "I'm not going to kill you in cold blood. I'm too much like you. You'll be on your feet by tomorrow."

"No." I muttered. I stood. "This isn't finished." I walked into the next room, the keyhole room, with the portal to the end of the world, and saw my replica standing there, surprised.

"Where are you going?" I said, half laughing from surprise. "We're not finished yet." I raised my Soul Eater. "There is no tomorrow for me… UNLESS I BEAT YOU TODAY!" I charged at him, and suddenly my keyblade sprang into my hands. But… why was the other me still holding one?

Instantly I understood. He was holding the dark keyblade that Riku had gotten when he was possessed by Ansem: the Black Faker keyblade, as I had decided to name it. I, on the other hand, wielded my Last Chaos keyblade.

Our keyblades clashed. "Why exactly are you fighting me?" I yelled. "There's no point! Johnson is going to kill you too when this is over!"

"I'm fighting so that I can be someone!" he yelled. Then I had an idea.

"You already are someone!" I cried, as he pushed me back. "You have your own identity. You aren't so much like me as they believe. Many people can tell the difference between me and you. You have your own personality, because you see the events in my life differently. You are you!" He pushed me back yet again. "I am Chris Talonflight. YOU are Chris Vasquez. Get it straight." I suddenly felt pressure on my shoulders, and realized that Nudge had arrived. He leaped on my shoulders, swayed for a moment, then fused.

"Nudge, No!" I yelled, but my friend didn't heed it. We fused, and I took on my dark armor. _Well, no use crying over spilt milk._ I thought, and attacked my foe. I spun, slashed, blocked, threw a shockwave, and repeated. Then, in the middle of the fourth repetition, I grabbed his arm, and threw him into the rotating, incomplete keyhole on hollow bastion that hovered above us. He slammed into it, vibrated once with the energy, and collapsed to the ground unconscious. I stood there, breathing heavily. Then Nudge leaped out of me, and my dark armor fell away. There was a bang behind me as Beast broke through the door and joined me.

"Well done, Chris!"

I looked up. There, watching it all from a balcony was Johnson, holding Yuffie.

"Never thought you would honor the deal." I said, snarling my words.

"Never thought you would defeat the replica." Johnson leaped down from the balcony, leaving Yuffie there, bound and gagged. With him jumped a man in a grey robe.

Behind me, a door banged open, and the rest of my group rushed in.

"Chris, sorry to leave you, but we had to find that replica… oh." C trailed off, looking at the unconscious replica. "I see you've been busy."

Suddenly, my friends, Nudge included, were encased in a wall of electricity. I looked back. The man in gray was pointing at them. Then he pushed back his hood. Ashley screamed. C gasped. Beast grunted. Frostmourne gaped. Donald and Goofy made a "What?" noise. Yuffie whimpered. Nudge squealed in terror. I just stared.

"Greetings… my… friend." Rodney growled in a mangled voice. All along his face traces of darkness, whiteness, and a blue substance flickered. Half of his face was torn away, replaced by a mechanical eye and teeth, mingled with bone, and remnants of flesh.

"I see you have recognized my newest creation." Johnson smiled. "Have fun!" he created a portal of darkness, taking Yuffie with him, but not before he dropped a glowing orb from his hand. "Take care of her heart!"

"NO!" I yelled, as he disappeared with a comatose, heartless Yuffie. The orb, her heart, sank down and disappeared into my chest.

Then my friends were released form the cage, and they got ready for combat.

"Why are you doing this?" Ashley yelled, in tears.

"I do only the will of my master!" Rodney tried to cleave her in half, but his blow was blocked by a stream of water from C's guitar.

"We don't have time to fight!" I yelled. "We need to follow Johnson!"

"You go." I turned to see which of my comrades had spoken. It was C.

"But C, we can't leave you here to fight it alone!" Ashley was alarmed.

"I can do this." C smiled, calm for once. "It would give me great pleasure to know that my friend was at peace, rather then knowing that he was transformed into a mockery of his former self. I know this is right. My heart tells me it is. Go. Find Yuffie. Good luck." He turned back to what was left of our friend, and began strumming his guitar.

"Lets see how you handle the sea." He whispered. I saw a look in his eyes that I had not seen in my life. It was the look of one who could look death in the eye and still do it calmly. He used his powers to slam Rodney backwards into the Chapel, and he followed him with a last look at Ashley. I hesitated. _If I jump into this fight, I could very well be killed. So can all of us. We need to get Yuffie back, as well as lock Kingdom Hearts away from this guy. But what the hell, it still doesn't feel right, leaving C to face the shadow of a former friend: a very deadly friend, at that!_ I then realized that if I didn't go along with what C had suggested that complete disorganization would follow, most likely resulting in all of us being delayed, and possibly Yuffie's death and the unlocking of Kingdom Hearts. I mentally cursed myself, and turned to the rest of my followers.

"Lets go." I looked around. "We need to lock this world. And to do that, we need to complete the keyhole… which means we need to awaken the princess's of heart." suddenly I knew what was to happen here. I looked at my friends and nodded. I picked up the Black Faker keyblade from my unconscious twin, and rammed it into my chest. There was a collective gasp and hearts erupted from the keyblade, and a final heart leaped from my chest to hover in the air. Then a ray of light emerged from the keyhole, and the keyhole was complete. However, I could feel darkness taking over me. I gave my friends a smile, and then felt myself change. I became Anti-Chris once again, the heartless version of me from the Station of Awakening.

"My god…" Ashley and the others gasped. I merely chuckled inwardly, and then summoned my dark armor. With that, several pieces of black skin flaked off. Then when I dispelled the dark armor, I became human again.

"Hmph." I grinned. "You didn't think I was committing suicide did you?" I grabbed Yuffie's heart and put it back in my chest.

Their mouths opened and closed for several seconds, until Frostmourne stormed over to me, and punched me in the shoulder. "NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!" he roared.

"Heh." I chuckled, while creating a dark portal. "Shall we?"

"You aren't leaving me behind." A voice from behind me said weakly. "He has.. The woman that you love… for that… I will help you defeat him…. Chris… real thing…" My replica stood up, sorely injured, still grasping Soul Eater. I nodded, and flicked my cure Materia at him. "I know what you all probably think of me, but I was under Johnson's control. Can't a guy get a break?" at hearing that familiar, complaining voice, we all chuckled, and we all walked through the portal. Now there were two me's… just perfect…

End of the World, here we come.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: _Chris Talonflight: _End of the World

We stepped out onto the pink glasslike substance that made up the ground of the End of the World. **(Cue music "End of the World" from Kingdom Hearts original soundtrack)**

"I really like this world." I and the replica joked at the exact same moment. We stared at each other, then burst out laughing.

"Its kind of weird." I heard Ashley whisper to Frostmourne. Frostmourne nodded. I felt bad for the replica. "I just want to get out of here as soon as possible."

We walked across the pink surface, avoiding the gravity orbs that would pull us down beneath the surface and cause heartless to attack us.

"There's the entrance to the World Terminus." I said, pointing. Then suddenly, a huge figure appeared in front of us, and I was confronted by a huge Guardian Heartless, floating behind a familiar figure.

"Ansem wannabe!" Ashley cried, sarcastically. Juan glared.

"Perish in darkness!" he growled. Then Frostmourne stepped forwards.

"Let me handle this idiot. I've been waiting this whole time for a fight and this is my first chance." He snarled. "You guys get going."

"Why do people keep doing this for me?" I asked as I complied. Frostmourne had on an even scarier look then he had donned when he had fought Cloud: If looks could kill, Johnson wouldn't need to open Kingdom Hearts to kill everyone.

"Because we're your friends." Ashley smiled.

"Duh. I'm an idiot." I smiled back.

We entered the first part of the World Terminus, and found it, as usual, deserted. Ashley, the replica, and Donald and Goofy were still with me.

When we fell through the portal to the second stage of the World Terminus. There, Xanju was waiting.

"Are you guys like dominos or something? One after the other?" I complained. "Or are you just being annoying?" Xanju merely looked at me.

"Shut up." He swung his scythe. Ashley stepped forwards.

"It was nice being with you, Chris." She smiled again, and lifted her keyblade. "Now go find your girlfriend!"

"Thank you, Ashley." I was grateful. I opened another portal, and skipped the rest of the World Terminus to avoid any other surprises that might have been waiting. _It was lucky I could see the final part of the Terminus from here, or I wouldn't have been able to make the portal… I think… But then again, I did make the portal to Yen Sid's… never mind._

The Replica, Donald, Goofy, and I stepped into Final Rest, the last part of the World Terminus before we went through the Final Doorway. Here, we encountered a large army of heartless.

"We can't leave these guys here for our friends to fight through!" the replica commented. Donald and Goofy nodded at each other.

"Go on!" they yelled together. "We'll take these guys out!" Donald conjured a Thundaga spell to make a clear path to the Final Doorway for me and the replica. "Hyuck hyuck!" Goofy laughed as he took out a few heartless with his diamond-edged shield. _What a pair… When we get through this, I certainly hope that I become better friends with them…_ The replica and I ran through the doorway into a small chamber, as big as a bedroom. There were a few small cracks in the ceiling, from which poured liquid light into a stone bowl, from which overflow ran down into a small hole in the ground. It seemed quite peaceful. At the far end of the room was a huge, impressive white door, its arched top at least six feet above my head. At its top was the heart symbol from the Station of Awakening. It was the door to the world of darkness. We heard a whispering voice speaking. It seemed to come from every direction at once.

_ Make your choice adventurous stranger. Beyond this point there is no light to protect you. You must fight your way through terrible danger. But take courage, for your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light._

Those words filled my heart with gladness. I looked at my twin. "Ready?" we asked each other at the same moment. Then I stuck out my hand.

"Just in case we don't get out of this… well, I can't say it's always been fun, but it's certainly been interesting." He shook my hand firmly.

"Kill 'em dead!" he said, a devil-may-care expression on his face. I gave him the same look. I remembered myself saying the line on earth at this stage of the game. How far away from me now my past life was! a month ago I would never even dreamed that I would be standing here, at the Final Doorway, the door given to those who make it to the End Worlds by the worlds themselves. And yet here I was, standing in front of the door, about to enter, with a replica, no less, standing beside me, both of us holding weapons of darkness, and ready to confront our most deadly foe. I was no longer the person who had walked into C's apartment in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York, USA, Earth, Reality, that day nearly a month ago that all of this had begun, and sent me on this sometimes nightmarish, sometimes heavenly, sometimes plain strange, and many times mysterious journey. I was no longer Chris Vasquez. I was in truth what I had only dreamed of on Earth: Chris Talonflight, world traveler, wielder of dark powers, and in love. This was it. Beyond this door we would either save the worlds, or be swallowed in pure and everlasting darkness. And here it had begun: by walking through a doorway. Had I not walked through C's door that day, I would never have walked through this door in front of me. Things had come full circle. It was time to end this.

We opened the door, and stepped through.

We emerged into a perfect representation of an Earthly apocalypse. The New York buildings were broken down, and there were several dead bodies lying there.

"_This world has been connected… Tied to the darkness… There is so very much to learn… A meaningless effort… One who knows nothing can understand nothing…"_

We stood on the edge of Manhattan, looking out over the Hudson River. As we watched, New Jersey disappeared, and the water of the Hudson sank down, after turning an evil purple, and the coast became cliffs. Looking down, we saw a figure standing there.

"Well, you Ansem imitator, we're here, so what are you gonna do now?" I yelled. A figure that looked exactly like me looked out over the destroyed coast. But I knew it wasn't me.

"Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison, surrounded by water. And so this boy wished to escape from his prison. His heart and mind wandered beyond the bounds of the reality of his world, although he believed he could not have it. Yet still he yearned for it, and now his wish has been granted. He wished for it, and he opened his heart to the darkness. Yet somehow he mastered it, and bent it to his strong will. The boy has become a world of his own." The other me looked at me and the replica, and then it transformed into Johnson. "All worlds begin in darkness. And all so end. The heart is no different. In the end all hearts return to the darkness from whence they came! For you see, Darkness is the hearts true essence."

"Your wrong." I shook my head. "The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may give in, but deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

Johnson began hovering.Behind him, something was slowly taking shape. "So you have come this far, and still you understand nothing!" he said slowly. "Every light must fade, every heart return to DARKNESS!" he yelled the last word, and with that word, the thing behind him took form. It was four arms, two of which held scythes, and the other two had huge claws. I recognized the form. The scythes came from Xanju, while the claws came from Juan's guardian. Evidently, Frostmourne and Ashley had made it through their opponents. I only hoped that my other friends were making equal progress.

I and my replica brought out our Soul Eaters, and Nudge bounced next to me. Suddenly, the arms behind Johnson started hurling large energy disks at us. We rolled under the barrage and managed to avoid it. Then we ran in and closed with him. I and my replica were like twin shadows, and we mirrored each other exactly. Then Johnson flew up high, and began slamming the Heartless arms into the ground, creating several shockwaves. We managed to avoid those too. My replica began the shadow clone assault, and the clones dealt a good amount of damage to Johnson. However, that was not enough to kill him. We rolled under another barrage of energy disks. Then Johnson began a move similar to my replica's shadow clone maneuver, sending out several copies of him to assault us. We summoned a pair of dark fists to destroy the barrage.

_If my replica can do these moves, what's to stop me from doing something even more powerful? _I thought. I stuck my arms up in the air, andpictured Xemnas's laser barrage in Kingdom Hearts II. Immediately, we were surrounded by thousands of dark energy bolts. I slammed my hands together, and the bolts of energy began firing themselves at Johnson. He was very fast and even managed to block most of the first two hundred with his double-ended katana. But after the one hundred eightieth bolts he missed one, which threw him off, and allowed the rest of the barrage to slam into him. When the barrage was over, I fully expected him to be dead. But he stood up, seemingly unharmed. However, there was a series of scars that had appeared on his face. He glared at us.

"You insolent-" he screamed. "You've started to unhinge my false form!"

"Well, we would consider that a good thing." My replica growled.

At that, Johnson flew up high and disappeared. In the middle of the island of Manhattan, there was a noise. When I heard the tearing sound behind me, and I turned to see the city become torn up, like wrapping paper, curling away from an area where I saw the diseased purple color mixed with darkness begin to eat away at the land. It stopped after a while, creating a circular area of destruction…

…A perfect dark arena. Johnson's convenience sickened me.

"Come on. You know what happens now. You remember." I waved to my copy. He nodded. As we walked, he began talking.

"What happens when this is all over? I mean, I have your memories from everything that happened until you arrived in Hollow Bastion. You are the real Chris. I don't fit in anywhere. Where will I go when this is over?" He asked.

"Tell you what." I said. "I have a running plan to stay in Traverse Town or Hollow Bastion with Yuffie when this is over. What say you come stay with us for a while? After a bit, we could get you work with the King, and you could be Frostmourne's partner?"

My replica smiled gratefully. "But what about your world. You aren't going back?"

"I want to… I think…" I sighed. "But how will I explain to Yuffie? I want to be with her so much…" A tear dripped from my eye.

"She would understand." He pointed out. "And you could come see her whenever you wanted, since we can make portals."

"True." I sighed. Then we reached the arena, and we entered at the same time to ensure that no one got locked out.

Inside was a Darkside. This was dealt with by two pairs of dark hands, and in less then twenty seconds. Then Johnson appeared. I did not give him the benefit of a speech. I merely began firing as many bolts of energy as I could muster. He blocked them all, while my replica darted around with Nudge, searching for an opening. Then Johnson dashed forwards, and his dark arms grabbed me, and threw me up in the air. His eyes shone dark malice. In response, I merely formed a dark portal above me, and flew into it. I emerged from a portal directly below the confused Johnson, sailing upwards with the momentum of his throw, and kicking him between his legs. He collapsed, grabbing his crotch. Then he looked at me with pained malice.

"Did you do that as revenge for your sweetheart?" he snarled. "Did she tell you about when she came to me that time, drunk, and told me to do her hard? Did she tell you about the time when we-"

"Shut up!" I roared. I engulfed him in a wave of blackness. Then I felt pressure on my shoulders as Nudge fused with me. This time, I welcomed the darkness, because it would give me the strength to defeat Johnson's second form. However, this dark form was different. I still wore the blindfold, but my armor was similar to what I was already wearing: the new armor from the King. I did, however, gain a slight aura, as well as my usual increase in power. I charged forwards, unleashing a storm of black lightning. Johnson couldn't block that, even though he summoned a wave of dark gold to try and wash me away.

_Black GOLD? What the heck IS this guy?_ I wondered, as I summoned Last Chaos, and my replica went darkness form and summoned Black Faker. We began taking the upper hand in the fight, and managed to knock Johnson down. While he was down, Nudge leaped from me, and a Neoshadow leaped from my replica, and they stabbed Johnson in the face. With that his entire form was covered in black scars. The Neoshadow leaped back from the downed target, hissing, while Nudge leaped to me.

"Your tame heartless is a Neoshadow?" I asked, while keeping an eye on the downed Johnson. Replica nodded.

"Named him Trufflehunter," he replied, "because he eats those little heartless named Truffles. You know?"

"Yeah." I nodded. Then Johnson started laughing.

"You FOOLS!" he yelled, while laughing. "Witness the power of the Lord of Silence, the Ruler of the Abyss, and the Wielder of Supreme Darkness! HAHAHAHAHA!" with that we were engulfed in a wave of pure blackness. When we could see again, we found ourselves on a frozen pathway suspended in a void, with a huge door on it. It was pure white, with a heart symbol at the apex of its curving top.

"This is the Endless Abyss." A small voice whispered to me and my replica. "Look as hard as you are able; you'll not find the smallest glimmer of light. Because here, darkness is TRULY supreme. Here, darkness reigns over light."

Standing in front of the door was a young man, a boy really, but with long, flowing blue hair that reached his feet. His face reminded me of Sephiroth, but it was too perfect of a face. I heard the Replica gasp. As we watched the boy held out his hand, and Johnson's double ended katana appeared in his hand.

"Seems I must do this after all." The boy growled. I realized that the kid was Johnson. _This...THIS is Johnson's true form! _I realized_._

"Allow me to reveal to you my master stroke." His weapon began transforming. When the morph finished, we were left staring at a double-ended darkness keyblade. I instinctively named it: Two-Face.

_Oh no._ I shook my head. _We are so dead._

"Chris!" Replica yelled. Then he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Take my power. I will help you defeat this menace." Johnson laughed insanely.

"You are a replica, devoid of emotions and real feelings. Why do you still fight?"

I answered in the words of a friend I had met on earth. I had met him on , and his name there had been INFERNOX. **(Cue song "Welcome to the End" by Sasukeshika)**

"This is why, Johnson: because even if he lacks a heart…even if he lacks emotions…even if he lacks purpose…that does not mean he lacks a will!" With that, I summoned Last Chaos in my right hand, and summoned Black Faker in my left hand.

"I believe its time to go Roxas!" I grinned. Roxas, a character from Kingdom Hearts, had duel wielded keyblades. Now it was my turn: Riku, Roxas, Kairi, and Sora: all were in me at that moment. Riku's dark power, Roxas's technique, Kairi's love for her friends, and Sora's heart, the mightiest weapon of all. Riku from the beginning. Sora from when I learned to love my friends. Kairi from when I met Yuffie. Roxas when I gained another Keyblade. All were me; and I was all.

Johnson sniffed, and raised his double ended keyblade. "Fine then. Prepare to meet Kingdom Hearts!"

"You may wield Kingdom Hearts…" I retorted, taking up the Roxas battle pose, "…But my heart is more powerful then a million hearts of darkness!"


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: _Chris Talonflight: _Black on Black

**(Continue playing "Welcome to the End" by Sasukeshika)**

I and Johnson clashed blade for blade as we continued charging at each other, merciless in our attacks. I jumped into the air and fired my Keyblades downwards at Johnson, who promptly deflected both of them with his single, double ended Keyblade. Johnson enveloped himself into a dark sphere, which made me confused. Suddenly, there was a loud shrieking sound, as the terrible silence of the Endless Abyss was torn by a sonic attack.

_I've got to outlast this! _I thought desperately, covering my ears with my hands. Soon enough, the dark orb burst and Johnson ran out at the speed of light, almost killing me in one hit with a sharp slice from his Keyblade. I ducked and sliced at Johnson, successfully hitting him. Johnson flipped into the air and sunk below the ground like a Neoshadow, before the glistening shadow of where he sunk into began glowing and charging towards me. I ran back as fast as I could, and this proved to be effective as Johnson immediately burst out of the glistening shade and caused a minor shockwave, before jumping high into the air and shooting dark energy in a wider radius around him. Before I could retaliate, Johnson disappeared and reappeared right behind me, a couple feet away. Johnson began floating slightly. I continued running as Johnson fired a large, blue energy beam out of his Keyblade. I smiled as I saw the weak point here; Johnson's attack was powerful, but it was slow-moving, and I could easily counter if I got closer. Taking the opportunity, I ran forwards and went right behind Johnson. Before Johnson could even turn around to hit me, I began slashing at Johnson with both of my Keyblades, beating him up mercilessly. Soon, the energy beam attack ended, but I continued my attack. I was then blasted backwards by the pure force of energy released from Johnson when he encased himself in a column of pure darkness, and he began charging at me with a, quite literally, wailing Keyblade. I heard the screams of lost hearts inside it. I jumped out of the way many times, as Johnson was fighting with a seemingly tireless energy. Johnson then tried to slash back at me, but this was in vain, as I jumped backwards. I countered an attack with the armor on my left arm.

_What else does this guy have?! Most of Johnson's moves are annoying attacks! _I mentally screamed. As if Johnson was reading his mind, Johnson jumped into the air and sliced at me, creating a large, bluish-purple energy wave that began pursuing me relentlessly. As I ran from this energy blade attack, Johnson went back into his dark ball formation and began his sonic attack. _Perfect…_ I groaned. _I jinxed it._

_This could go on forever! Why is he copying Vanitas? _I mentally screamed again as I avoided both the energy blade AND resisted the brain-splitting sonic squeal. When the barrage stopped, I stopped as well. _He doesn't have all that much in the way of defense. Almost all of his mind is focused on offensive moves. The only way to beat him is with a trick._

"What's wrong, mortal?" he yelled. "Cannot handle a bit of your own power?"

I chuckled. "Being mortal has its advantages!" I began attacking with black energy rays. It had been hard before to see his attacks here, because of the darkness of our surroundings, but I didn't need to see to avoid the attacks. I could _sense _every bit of darkness in the place. Most of it was coming from one of two places: either Johnson, or behind the huge door.

Johnson spun his double-key in a circle, and little dark bat heartless began flying out. It was then that I did something I never thought I would do. I lifted my hands, and a huge group of many different heartless appeared.

_Kill him_. I ordered. The heartless immediately set upon the bats with vigor. _Wow. I never thought I would be able to command heartless. Just goes to show how strong my heart is, _I joked. Then a huge wave of blackness came rolling at me, like a tidal wave. I threw up my hands, and sent out an identical wave of my own, but so powerful I could feel it crunching every loose piece of ice on the platform.

_Whoa. _I had already guessed why both of our attacks were substantially powered up: we were both being powered by Kingdom Hearts because of our proximity. However, there was still infinitely more power lying untapped behind the doors. It had only to be summoned… but I wouldn't do that. No way was I ready for that kind of power. But if he summoned it… who knew what he could do.

Our tidal waves crashed, and vied for dominance. Mine sparkled with blue electricity, while Johnson's sparkled with red electricity. Two-Face was crackling in my foe's hands hands, while Last Chaos and Black Faker were sparking in mine. Suddenly both waves evaporated.

"Well, mortal, done yet?" Johnson taunted searching for me through the mists that had resulted from the evaporation of our attacks. But when they cleared, I wasn't there.

Below him. Sunk into the ground like a shadow. I popped up, and kicked him in the groin again. Then I slashed at him and wounded him in the side. He leapt back, but not before stabbing my shoulder. I merely grimaced, before thinking _cure, _and Yuffie's Materia that was in the armor slot on my hand glowed, healing me. I felt another potion inject as well, to cover my bruises. I smirked as the armor repaired itself. Then I jumped.

It was an idea that would only be attempted in the mind of a child, but then all it takes sometimes is a child's idea to overthrow someone. Disregarding swordplay,I leaped into a dark portal, tackled Johnson to the floor, and then rolled us both off of the edge of the platform. We fell into blackness battling. I managed to get through his guard, and stabbed him through the stomach, badly injuring him.

Then we were back on the icy platform, via a portal that Johnson had created. He stood there, shaking, bloody, and injured. However, I noticed that the door to Kingdom Hearts had developed a crack, and a bit of darkness was seeping out. _That's not good. _I frowned.

"It is futile…" he gasped. "The keyblade alone... Cannot seal the door to darkness..." he looked up, and stretched his hand out towards the door to Kingdom Hearts. "Kingdom Hearts!" he cried, "Fill me… With the power of darkness…"

Then the door opened slightly. More darkness began sliding out. In a flash, I dispelled both the Replica and Nudge from my body.

"I know now, without a doubt!" I yelled. Nudge and Replica would want to see this! "Kingdom Hearts… is LIGHT!" I yelled. At that instant, beyond all hope, it was rays of light that blasted from the doorway, dispelling the earlier seeping darkness, and blasting into Johnson.

"I… How… But…" he gasped, in obvious pain. "Light…. But… But why…" he asked, crying out his agony to the void. Then the light became too strong for him, and he evaporated back into the darkness, banished from our existence. Then the light ceased, and the door was completed. We ran to the door, and began pushing it closed. However, it remained open. I remembered: in order to shut Kingdom Hearts, someone would have to be shut inside.

"I'll go." The Replica said, recalling his keyblade from my grasp. "I was never supposed to be here. This way… at least I'll have a purpose.

I said nothing. What was there to possibly say?

"I'll see you again someday." He said, shaking my hand.

"Hopefully." I agreed. "Maybe I'll be able to give you a few pointers with Soul Eater by then."

"Heh." He laughed. "Maybe." We nodded at each other, and he walked through the doorway. He placed his hands on the doorway, and pulled. The doors slowly closed.

Nudge squeaked. He was looking inside Kingdom Hearts. Behind Replica there was three Darksides. I patted Nudge's head.

"Don't worry." I watched for it. Then I saw a keyblade come flying up, and kill all three Darksides with one blow. A small figure appeared, standing behind Replica.

"Go on!" he yelled.

"I will, My King!" I yelled. King Mickey, Frostmourne's employer, was here to help us seal the door to Kingdom Hearts. He had been waiting in Kingdom Hearts all this time.

"Hey Chris," the Replica said. He looked in my eyes and said four words. "Take care of her." I nodded.

_ I will look after Yuffie with my life! _I thought. Then the door closed, and lines of light spread up it. I raised my keyblade. On the other side of the door, King Mickey and Replica raised their keyblades. A circle of light formed around each of our weapons, and when it touched the tip of our weapons, each of our keyblades shot out a beam of white light. The light struck, and the white door to darkness disappeared, vanished form this side of reality forever. The door was locked, and we had the key. I saw Yuffie's heart shoot out from my chest, and aim for a figure standing on a small platform a few feet away… _She's here. So are the rest of the guys. They made it out alive… I wonder… Will I?_


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: _Yuffie Stromwind: _New Story

**(****Cue song "Stereo love" by Edward Maya)**

I stood on a small platform made of cobblestone, with no one else on it. Next to my platform was another platform made of concrete. On this platform were millions of people. But the most prominent on it were Ashley and C. On another nearby platform of marble floor tiles was David Frostmourne. And on the icy platform in front of us stood Chris and Nudge.

"Yuffie!" he yelled. He ran to me, but my platform was steadily moving away.

"Remember Yuffie!" he yelled. "I'm always with you! I'll come back to you: I promise!"

"I know you will!" I yelled. "I love you!"

"I love you too!" he yelled back.

"Hey Chris!" C yelled. "Jump on!" their platform was moving steadily away as well. But Chris shook his head.

"Sorry, but I've got another mission to fulfill. When you get home, plug in the next game and play it for me!" he yelled.

"Sure will!" C and Ashley waved goodbye as they faded into the mists. I could see Chris fading. The last I saw of him was him standing there on the Icy platform, Nudge at his side, and looking at me with eyes so full of love I feared they would burst. Then I was suddenly in Traverse Town, in the first district.

"Yuffie!" Leon shouted. "Where is everyone?"

"They're gone." I said with a sad smile. "Back to their own worlds. But don't worry."

"So we'll never see them again?" Leon asked.

"We will." I said. Then I turned around, and ran into the accessory shop. I ran to Rodney's portable TV and plugged in C's PS2. It flickered to life. I inserted Chris's disk. It began loading. Then the title menu appeared, and piano music started playing. This was the next step to getting them back. I read the title:

"Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories, sequel to Kingdom Hearts One."

**HEY there! Since you made it here, that must mean you've read the story! Well, was it good? Please let me know! And there IS one more chapter after this one: the SECRET ENDING! But since in the games you have to do insane stuff to earn the secret ending, here I'm setting a condition to me posting it: 113 reviews… MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, I would like to thank my readers for their comments (yes, even the flames). *sigh*… if only this one would make it to Kingdom Hearts canon gaming… Be seeing you!**

**-Chris Talonflight.**


	25. SECRET ENDING

_**SECRET ENDING**_

A wave of pain washed over the boy as the heat became unbearable. He was sweating bullets, and his long black coat was only making things worse. The boy needed to get out. Now.

"You cannot escape us!" a voice called.

Another voice chimed in, one that the boy knew well.

"I'm sorry, but this needs to be done." The boy's friend was in agony over his predicament.

The door wasn't blocked, but every time he tried to exit a fireball came through. But now he had no choice: run or die. He took a step out, and was nearly knocked over by a ball of flame. In a reflex action, he hurled a bolt of darkness at the man who had launched it from his spinning Charkams, knocking him down.

Another man walked slowly towards him, showing no sign of fear at all. On the contrary, he seemed to inspire the boy with a feeling of… no, not fear exactly, but apprehension. "_No matter who you kill, no matter what you do, you cannot escape your fate. You are still only a boy, Nobody."_ He seemed to speak into the boy's mind.

The boy ground his teeth. "Don't call me that!" he yelled. He knocked the man down and stared into his eyes. This man was… Empty. Then he saw a claymore come swinging at him. It caught him on the ankle with the flat of the blade, tripping him, but he lashed out with his keyblade twice, injuring the man with the X-shaped scar on his face. He leaped over a broken wall, barely avoiding a man with an eye patch. He swerved around Xigbar, and dodged away. There was an explosion behind him, but he didn't heed it. His entire mind was focused on escape. Then a buffet of cold water struck him with such force that it lifted him, emanating from a figure that was so familiar… one of the ones from the dreams, but yet not. He saw the edge of the castle as he flew over it. Then he was falling. He barely caught onto a railing on the edge of the adjacent skyscraper, and chanced a look back. He saw seven men all dressed in long black coats standing at the edge of the balcony, hoods hiding their faces.

The boy stood on top of the building, hood hiding his face.

_I can't take this anymore. I WILL escape! _The boy thought. The boy was not really a boy, but nearly a man. The boy leaped from the building. Three stories down, he appeared from a dark portal. He sprinted away.

The leader of the black coated men, one known as the Superior, flipped down his hood, revealing a man with long grey hair.

"Saix let the replica know her choices. As for the boy's whereabouts, we can find him when the time comes." The man next to the Superior nodded, flipping down his hood. He was the man with the X-shaped scar on his forehead and a claymore, and he sported blue hair.

"As for the rest of you, you may return to your activities." The Superior intoned. When the other members had walked away, Xemnas stared into the gloom.

"I will find you, Xsirch." He muttered. "And when you are gone, and your replica has completed her work, Kingdom Hearts will be mine. And there is nothing you can do to stop me… Xsirch… Chris."

The night was dark in the World That Never Was.


End file.
